This Leap Day, Take Time to Reflect on Your Green Business

Let’s face it, in this society many of us are busy all the time — busy doing things.  More often than not, we don’t stop to reflect on what we’re doing, which could be a problem for business.  With an extra day this year, devote some time for company reflection.  Here’s why:

Breakthroughs that “reimagine, reinvent, and reconceive a product, a company, a market, an industry or perhaps even an entire economy rarely come from the single-minded pursuit of the busier or busier busywork of business,” reports Harvard Business Review.

More often, advancements, revolutions, discoveries and innovations come from setting aside time for thinking about what your business has and hasn’t done well, what’s working and what’s not.

Begin by thinking about your business’s intentions and goals.  Will the actions your company is taking actually lead to desired outcomes?  For example, if a company goal is to save energy and money, consider coming up with creative incentives for employees to take energy-saving actions, rather than just asking employees to turn off lights and shut down computers at the end of the day.  

Reflection doesn't have to end on leap day.  Consider a weekly creative development meeting where employees can share their ideas and thoughts on how to better achieve company goals.

And, if a goal is to increase your office's environmental responsibility, peruse green products, furniture and technology from EcoGreenOffice.  Also, browse our partner list and find out if an EGO partner can help your company achieve its’ desired ends.

It may seem unconventional, but we may accomplish more in the long run by getting in the habit of setting aside to think about what we're doing, instead of always being "on the go." 

Register Now for the 2012 Sustainable Operations Summit

The Sustainable Operations Summit allows leading organizations to share best practices that benefit both the environment and the bottom line.  The event will be held April 17-19, Earth Week, in New York City, home to some of the most inspiring green building and urban renewal projects in the world.

The summit includes an impressive panel of speakers, including Patricia Calkins, the Chief Sustainability Officer of Xerox, Brad Copithorne, the Energy and Financial Policy Specialist for the Environmental Defense Fund, Graham Hill, founder of Treehugger.com  and the 42nd President of the United States Bill Clinton and more.  Speakers will share innovative approaches to reduce our impact on the environment, with a focus on energy, the built environment and resource conservation. 

Sustainability, profitability and performance, successful applications of renewable energy, examining whether zero waste is possible, are just a few of the conference topics.

From each registration fee, $10 will be donated to support a local community garden project in NYC.  Separate registration is required for the networking party aboard the Hornblower Hybrid, the greenest vessel in the New York Harbor.  The ship runs on renewable power, generated by hydrogen fuel cells, solar panels and wind turbines.

EcoGreenOffice has what you need for traveling to this conference and others.  The leather laptop portfolio, made from 10 percent recycled content, holds laptops with up to 16 inch screens, and has a pocket with an accordion fan file, and compartments for pens and business cards.  Check out all of EcoGreenOffice's carrying cases, including cases for larger art portfolios and laptop backpacks.

Fly to conferences with the CheckFast Laptop Backpack from EcoGreenOffice.  The backpack features a removable padded laptop sleeve that allows for clear CheckFast™ X-ray scanning and a front pocket with an accordion fan file.

Recycle Random Paper Products

Here's a list of paper products that can often be recycled in addition to white office paper:

1) Paper-based packaging
2) Newspapers
3) Magazines
4) Catalogs
5) Brochures and pamphlets printed on white, or light paper
6) Soft-covered books
7) Manilla file folders 
8) Juice and milk cartons 

To ensure your office can recycle the above, check your municipality's recycling guidelines

For more ideas on how to decrease the environmental footprint of your office's paper use, read our recent article Revamp Your Office's Paper Recycling and Purchases.

For example, did you know that bright paper and shredded paper often can't be recycled, or put in the same bin as white office paper?  And, that you should purchase recycled paper made from 100 percent post-consumer content?    

There are many paper products for purchase made from post-consumer content, including file storage boxes, dividers and wirebound notebooks.

Peruse all of the post-consumer options available through EcoGreenOffice. 

When it comes to purchasing recycled paper products, post-consumer is they way to go.  It means that product has actually been made from materials that would otherwise end up in the landfill.  There are many products made from post-consumer content other than white office paper, including the multicolor divider featured above, supplied through EcoGreenOffice.  And, this divider happens to be manufactured with wind generated electricity!

  

How to Achieve Different Kinds of Wealth

Author Juliet Schor imagines a solution for decreasing CO2 emissions, while simultaneously increasing jobs and wealth in her book “True Wealth: How and Why Millions of Americans Are Creating a Time-Rich, Ecologically Light, Small-Scale, High-Satisfaction Economy.”

Schor’s central message is that we can work fewer hours, buy fewer things, enjoy life more, help save the earth and even drive down today's high unemployment rate, says GreenBiz, an online resource that helps companies integrate environmentally responsible actions.

Government incentives could encourage companies to reduce employee’s hours rather than laying people off, or provide tax breaks to companies that reduce employees’ workweek to 4 days. 

Companies could hire more people, rather than hiring fewer people for longer hours.  Everyone would have more time to engage with their community, cook and make ecofriendly choices, such as walking and biking instead of driving, and find more time for friends and family.

There are of course, numerous obstacles to this plan, Schor points out.  From employee-base health insurance and changing the way we think about more hours equaling greater commitment. 

But, the general idea of Schor’s plan is one many of us can resonate with: trading material wealth for other kinds of wealth, such as time, community, nature and doing things to reduce our carbon footprint.

We also can’t forget that during those hours we’re in the office, there are plenty of opportunities to make decisions for the planet, such as reducing paper use and using paper made from post-consumer materials.  EcoGreenOffice’s Green Education section provides more ideas for how to be thoughtful during the “nine to five.” 

Being more attentive during our working hours can carry over to our nonworking hours, enriching our time off, even if reducing those working hours currently isn’t an option.

Read Juliet Schor's book "True Wealth" to discover different ways of thinking about how to spend the hours of your week.

Heartland Institute Scandal and the Importance of Company Transparency

Leaked documents revealed that Heartland Institute, a US climate-skeptic think-tank, hopes to raise almost $4.5 million in corporate donations during 2012, says BusinessGreen.  The documents indicate that large corporations such as Microsoft, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and Diageo provided money to the controversial group. 

While companies are more than entitled to spend promotional budgets however they like, they should be open about where money is flowing so they can be held accountable by shareholders and other investors, Bob Ward, policy director at Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at LSE, told BusinessGreen.

"For [companies] founded on science and engineering, it's difficult to see how they could support an organisation that is so ideological rather than scientific," he added. "The question for any company is: is that really the type of group you want to be associated with?"

The documents suggest Microsoft paid $59,908 to Heartland in 2011, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) paid $20,000 in 2011 and $30,000 the year before, Pfizer provided $130,000 in 2010, and Diageo gave $10,000 in 2010 and is expected to shell out another $10,000 in 2012, BusinessGreen also reports.

Greater transparency equals better business.  Transparency can mean several things.

Investopedia uses transparency to describe high-quality financial statements and notes that investors should steer clear of companies that lack transparency in their business operations.

The Business Journal reports that at the forefront of any leader's mind should be establishing the faith and the trust of the people comprising the enterprise he or she serves.  Compromising faith and trust can lead to a breakdown of social and organizational functioning. 

As a business that's already taking action for the environment, or interested in doing so, there's no reason not to be transparent and maintain the faith of your current and potential customers.  By verifying green product labels,  EcoGreenOffice partner "Greennii" is one way to increase company transparency.

EcoGreenOffice makes Greennii’s cut, because we offer conventional products, as well as green products — and are honest about which products are green and which are conventional.   We realize that businesses can’t instantly become green, so we offer one green product at a time, helping companies to develop a long-term game plan and eventually choose from a full list of sustainable office supplies.  

With information more accessible than ever on a global scale, increasing your company's transparency will help you to maintain current customers and attract new ones. 

How do you get your customers and potential customers to click the “share button”?

The answer is interesting and compelling content that helps to solve your customers’ problems, reports Social Media Examiner, the world’s largest online social media magazine.

To create compelling content, the onlinepublication suggests finding out what your audience is most interested in and understanding three fundamental things about yourself and your market space:

• Who YOU are—What’s your story?
• Who THEY are—Your customers, and why they should care about your story.
• What CONTENT can you provide them to build loyalty

By developing an effective content marketing strategy, you’ll better be able to create subscribers who are passionate about your brand and who will be continually engaged with your content. 

Letting others know your business' history and long term goals is one idea for engaging content.

Read EcoGreenOffice's background story and mission to make using green office products the standard -- nationwide. 

Get customers to notice what you have to say and press the "share button" by creating content that will impress your customers, writes Social Media Examiner.

Uh-oh, forgot today was Valentine's Day? Here are some last minute gift ideas you don't have to leave the office for

Weren't we just celebrating New Year's?  Well, if you feel that way, you can still leave your loved one unsuspecting with some of these quick gift ideas.

1) Valentine's Day E-Cards from Hallmark cards, JibJab, American Greetings and others.

2) Compose a poem, suggests The Huffington Post.  Impress your loved one not only with words, but your thoughtfulness for the environment.  Write the poem on the back of a recycled sheet of paper.  The other side of the paper might contain information your Valentine would find interesting anyway.

3) Give the gift of nature.  Through The Nature Conservancy, you can adopt trees in Brazil, an acre of rainforest in Costa Rica or give the gift of clean water and announce your donation to friends and family through an E-card.

4) Purchase your loved one's favorite songs on iTunes, or send them an iTunes gift certificate that automatically arrives in their email.

5) If you have time to buy chocolate, choose a sustainable option using GoodGuide, recommends GreenBiz.  Green & Blacks dark chocolate bar is at the top of the list.  GoodGuide, an online organization, is the world's largest and most reliable source of information on the health, environmental and social impacts of consumer products.  

6) Want the company you love to become an EcoGreenOffice partner?  Consider getting their permission to sign them up to be an EGO partner.  This way, your favorite business will be connected with other green businesses and on the path to purchasing sustainable office products.

Let your favorite business know about the possibility of becoming an EGO partner this Valentine's Day! 

Give a Lasting Green Gift to Your Office this Valentine’s Day

Purchasing local, organic or fair trade candy, wine and flowers  is one way to green your Valentine’s gifts. 

But, why not give your coworkers something that will continue to reduce your office’s environmental footprint over time?  Here are some green commitment ideas that may also do less damage to the wallet.

1. Plant a tree, or a native plant. In addition to adding aesthetic value, planting a tree will serve as reminder of your commitment and your office’s commitment to the environment.  You may not have time to plant a tree before V-day, or it might not be the best time of year for planting.  Instead, research what trees, or flora are most compatible with the surrounding environment and make a commitment to plant in the spring (as long as your office approves of course). 

2. Give recycling bins.  Tired of seeing recyclables thrown in the trash bin because there’s only one recycling bin in the office building? Ok, so buying a bin may not be as appealing as chocolate, but your coworkers are likely to appreciate not having to walk down the hall every time they need to recycle paper.  

By purchasing a recycling receptacle from EcoGreenOffice, you’re increasing your office’s waste diversion rate and becoming an EcoGreenOffice partner.  As an EGO partner, your business can show off its long-term commitment to the environment and connect with other like-minded green businesses. 

3. Donate old, or unused office materials. Old office electronics, furniture, unused writing supplies and office accessories generally can be donated to a local school, charity, or nonprofit.  By donating these no-longer used items, not only are you helping the environment and the community, but most of your coworkers are bound to appreciate the extra space in the office.  Earth911 is a great resource for looking up where to give everything from old electronics, to furniture. 

It may be unconventional, but purchasing this deskside recycling container for your coworker, featured above from EcoGreenOffice,  instead of flowers or chocolate, shows your lasting commitment to the environment. 

Consider a larger recycling bin for the whole office, such as the Brute Recycling Container featured above from EcoGreenOffice.

The NFL Environmental Program Is Making Solid Plays Post-Super Bowl

In case you’ve been wondering what happened to all of the post-Super Bowl waste in Indianapolis, the director of the NFL Environmental Program Jack Groh has good news.

To “green” the big game, the NFL’s goal was to use less supplies and recover everything that’s practical, Groh says in an article on indystar.com. 

For example, the five to six miles of banners displayed in Indianapolis will be used to create bags and possibly shower curtains, according to the People for Urban Progress.  Second Helpings, a local nonprofit community kitchen, collected over 40,000 pounds of leftover food related to Super Bowl events.  

Four cases of gently used office supplies are being donated to Indianapolis Public Schools.  Because of the fair weather weekend in Indianapolis, a large amount of unused winter clothing that the NFL ordered for employees will be donated, such as fleece-lined parkas, sweater vests and long-sleeved shirts. 

By supplying 15,000 megawatt-hours worth of renewable energy certificates, Green Mountain Energy replaced carbon sources of energy used at the big game with energy from the wind.   

Green Mountain Energy also has plans to buy carbon offsets to counter the effects of carbon energy created by the Giants’ and the Patriots’ travels to and from the game, according to the indystar.com article.

After any event, or anytime you replace office supplies with new ones, it's always best to find ways to recover what was used.  Although recycling materials is better than sending them to the landfill, finding a donation center, school, or another organization that can repurpose your supplies is the way to go!