Urban Blog

There are good reasons to consider making your business more eco-friendly. It’s one thing to consider the fact that your customers live on the planet, but you live on the planet as well. Close to 100% of all scientists around the globe agree that modern human industrial society has had a serious impact on the planet and the climate.

When You Care, You Win

In the coming years and decades, global temperatures will continue to increase, and this increase in temperature has a range of implications. On the list of climate change concerns are disrupted and decreased crop yields, water shortages resulting in the potential for so-called “water waters,” climate change refugees, economic disruptions, famine, an increased risk in the spread of disease globally and the list goes on.

From the direct perspective of your business, demonstrating to your customers that you are aware of climate change and its consequences as exemplified by taking pro-active eco-friendly steps in your business. This approach can help you win new clients and retain old ones.

Summed up another way, any step you can take to make your business more eco-friendly will be rewarded both for you personally, your descendants as well as your business. Creating an eco-friendly environment at your company just makes sense.

The bottom line is that every bit helps. While climate change and its consequences may be a massive global problem there is a great deal you can do personally to help reduce the impact of climate change.

Tip One-Buy Local and Be Thoughtful About Your Choices

Every business has needs and things that it uses. Whether those items are large, small or on the spectrum somewhere in between, they require energy. Manufactured goods take a great deal of energy to produce. Not only is it necessary to factor in the raw materials that go into a good but it is also necessary to consider the associated transportation costs involved getting a manufactured good from one location to another.

Concern about the carbon produced in manufacturing a good and shipping it around the country or around the world is part of what drives the “buy local” movement. For example, let’s say you need a new desk for your office. Buying a locally made desk constructed from locally sourced wood will have a far lower carbon footprint than a desk manufactured thousands of miles away. Additionally, wood is a renewable resource and one that very likely too less energy to harvest than for example metal that goes into a metal desk. There are literally dozens of choices like this one that even a small business can make and obviously the larger the business the greater the potential impact.

Steps you can take include the following:

• Buying less paper
• Unplugging computers and equipment when not in use
• Composting more
• Sustainable materials for your building and furniture
• Donate to charities doing great things for the community and the planet

The SBA (U.S Small Business Association) offers a list of great suggestions for going green with your business.

Tip Two-Avoid Products Made with Harmful Chemicals and Opt for Alternatives When Available

Thinking about the material from which a good is manufactured is something that should never be overlooked. Many manufactured goods are manufactured using harmful chemicals. Even if chemicals had zero negative impact on the environment, which is not the case, it still takes a great deal of energy to manufacture chemicals.

When buying new products, it is important to look for products that have been manufactured in an eco-friendly fashion. Simply looking for eco-friendly products that incorporate recycled or repurposed materials can help you lower your business’s carbon footprint.

Another step for businesses to take in their quest to be eco-friendly is to ask a very simple question: do we really need this item? Do we really need to replace this item? Quite often upgrades are made not out of direct necessity, but instead out of a drive to modernize. Of course, some modernization is necessary from time to time. But like anything else, the drive for modernization can overcome basic commonsense. When you are done with your supplies, consider Freecycling, which refers to how businesses can give away unwanted items.

For this reason, it is prudent to periodically step back and evaluate the need for a particular good or a particular upgrade. Upgrading and buying new goods and equipment may be an unnecessary expense and one that can harm the environment. Again, it takes energy to produce any manufactured good.

Tip Three-Re-evaluate All Travel

One of the most common sources of carbon comes in the form of travel. It is difficult to overemphasis the importance of rethinking your business’s approach to travel enough. Much of the good work your business does in a week with recycling, repurposing old equipment or goods, delaying the purchasing or equipment, buying eco-friendly products and more can be undone or partially undone with one unnecessary plane trip.

Plane trips, especially long ones, generate a great deal of carbon. How your business deals with the issue of travel can make a tremendous difference in your business’s overall carbon footprint. Other eco-friendly travel steps you can take include encouraging employee carpooling, finding ways for employees to work virtually, reducing and consolidating trips and more. Once you begin to think about how your business utilizes travel you will find many eco-friendly tips to employ.

There are many ways your business can help the environment. None of the eco-friendly business tips outlined in this article have to be disruptive to your business or your bottom line. Additionally, outlining for your customers the steps you are taking to be eco-aware will help you build brand loyalty. The environmental problems the planet faces were created by people and in order to solve those problems people will have to take action. Talking about climate change and its impact on humanity is not enough; it requires each and every one of us to modify our behaviors.