This blog is about possibilities and opportunities—the endless possibilities and enormous opportunities that can come from answering this challenge by taking your business on the road to sustainability. The greening of your business can be a quest, an adventure even, as you work to build a leaner, stronger, and healthier business. As science has been telling us about human health in recent years, in order to become healthier we need to cut out the fat, become more active, and lower our bodies’ intake of harmful chemicals and additives. To create a sustainable business is to follow that same general plan: cut the inputs of energy and raw materials to an absolute minimum, make the business more resilient to change and risk, and eliminate toxic materials wherever possible. The results, as with a successful human fitness plan, can be stunning. Reductions of energy use can be well upwards of 70 percent; materials use can likewise often be reduced by half, or even more. Waste can, in some cases, be virtually eliminated or, better yet, sold for a profit or converted into additional useful products. Hazardous chemical use can be dramatically reduced or eliminated. And best of all, by creating a company that is healthier, a company that is poised for the future, a company that is lean and strong, you will almost inevitably generate greater profits, while eliminating many risks.
Like a highly trained athlete who is deeply in tune with her body, you will also begin to understand your business as never before. You’ll understand intimately where all of your material inputs come from, where every kilowatt of your company’s energy is used, how your supply and distribution chain operates, the exact make-up of each of your products, the intimate details of the services you provide, and precisely what materials comprise your waste stream. At each step of your journey towards sustainability, you will find ways to do things better, more efficiently, more effectively, safer, and with dramatically less waste and energy. You will be joining thousands of other businesses and millions of people around the world in the quest to align business with the real needs of humanity.
0 comments:
Post a Comment