How Good is Good Enough

• What baby steps are you currently making at home or at work?
• Can you think of a better starting point?
• How would YOU “blow up the ship”?
• What could you use from the examples described this week?
• What do you take from these examples to put in YOUR Toolbox?

Resources:
How Good is Good Enough?
As we see already any great movement forward whether it be the Industrial Revolution or Green Revolution started with ordinary people doing extraordinary things. They were people who were smart. Not just intellectually smart, but also emotionally smart, what we commonly call “street smarts”. People who know how people work and think and can use that to make great changes.
This next section talks about how good is good enough. Much of what we see now is companies making baby steps: an occasional recycling bin, a recycling poster, mug hooks so people won’t use paper cups (although most ignore them). But let us take a close look at the baby steps and see what big companies did to make them, and why they were afraid. But I also want you to think about big steps. Baby steps are better than nothing at all, but we aren’t babies. Let‘s take big, grown-up leaps.
A few years ago, my boss asked me to be on a committee. I managed to stifle my groan and agreed. He then told me his mission and said the following, “When I am asked to redesign the ship, they know I am not just going to re-arrange the deck chairs. We are going to blow up the ship.”—Dr. Glen Zeitzer. I must admit, I quietly thought, “OK, so we blow up the ship, but it is going to look exactly the same, including deck chair locations”. I happy to say I was completely wrong and it was the best committee I have ever been a part of. In fact this course is a direct result of that meeting as well as the new Environmental Management Major in NJ.
Why do I tell this story? Because to make the big changes, we must often think in whole new ways, and get everyone else on board. We need find a better plan, a better baseline, a better ship.

http://www.coca-colacompany.com/sustainability
https://www.epa.gov/

 

Sustainable baby steps in my business practices

Utilization of fewer papers through the printing of less stuff, this has helped in reducing the amount of waste stream. I was smart regarding the type of paper I used, and I only printed the emails which was a must to be printed while encouraging my colleagues not to print my emails. I also ensured easy access to the emails for reference purposes by proper arrangement in respective files and boxes. I also used sustainable papers while printing essential documents having my printer set to print on both sides. I have tried going digital with my documents as a strategy of reducing paper usage and initiated signing of documents and contracts electronically. For instance, I used the adobe acrobat to sign PDF files digitally. Another case is where I used PayPal while sending invoices thus enabling me to receive instant payment and accept credit cards. I have also thought of starting to use various soft wares such as DocuSign and e-signature. With the presence of this two software, I would begin by securely signing documents and accessing signatures from my client and vendors in a digital manner. During the week I also managed to get waste wise by conveniently locating all paper well-labeled recycling bins all over in the office where some were nearer to mailboxes and copiers, and everywhere else where there was garbage. In efforts to conserve energy I ensured I turned off all the plugs after work. I have also programmed my computer in a manner that it automatically turns off at a certain time at night in instances where I happen to forget to turn it off. I also thought of always unplugging all cell phone chargers which are not in use as they still use energy despite being not used for charging. To promote energy efficiency am considering stocking my office with compact florescent light bulbs together with energy saving appliances.

During the week, I established proper network with businesses that are going green in my area in order to work with them and use their services when necessary. To achieve a green business I would start by giving my best in ensuring that the business supply chain is green too. I will also seek out for green vendors to cater for the business needs such as hosting the business website, printing business card and cleaning my office building. I also kept myself updated on the course of the week on green business trends and environmental news and shared most of the green news tips with my co-workers. In efforts to start executing the new green tips, I would start by making myself an expert in sustainability to build my business reputation and gain trust from the potential clients and customers as well as promoting the build of my green brand. I have also considered building my officer green by use of sustainable fabrics on window coverings and curtains made from bamboo or hemp which are green building elements. Another step I took was pushing for the establishment of company recycling program for electronics whereby all e-waste unimportant to the business and toxic to the environment are recycled. To make this program effective I have suggested making it a company’s policy to recycle anything recyclable. I will start by making e-waste like cameras and phones, and with that, I will make a step of choosing which charity get to take over on my recycled electronics. I also promoted implementation the idea on Freecycle whereby all no useful items were locked in one room in the office to give room for other items while some were donated.