Eco Friendly Training

Have you noticed how "green" is everywhere?  Enter a grocery store, and there are "green" products next to traditional ones.  Billboards on the highways promoting “green" homes.  How do you know which products truly embrace sustainability concepts versus traditional products with a marketing makeover?
 
Frequently discussed in our sustainability consulting is that it is often unclear what a green product is.  Eco labels help but still, there is a lack of uniformity in certifications.  In addition, the environmental claims on packaging vary in credibility.  To help clear up the confusion, within our eco friendly training, we define a green product as one that performs as good as or better than the standard product, has less of an environmental impact, and is cost competitive.
 
Access to information has put the consumer in the driver’s seat and for those living a sustainable lifestyle, there's power in leveraging purchases to support sustainable businesses.  Following are 8 tips to enhance eco awareness for the conscious shopper.  
 
 

1. A comprehensive tool that provides reliable sources of information on the health, environmental, and social impacts of products is the GoodGuide.
2. Research before you buy.  For larger more infrequent items, set aside time to research your options.  Evaluate products on the full lifecycle.  How much energy was used in producing the product?   What is the energy consumption of your intended use?  How it will be discarded later? Compare products with eco awareness in mind.
3. Buy local and buy in bulk.  Supporting local businesses eliminates the need for products to be transported far distances.
4. Buy organic.  Purchasing merchandise certified with organic labeling is another way to bring eco awareness to your lifestyle.   Buying organic means less pesticides in our ground water and better health for your family.
5. Buy Fair Trade.  Buying Fair Trade helps to end abuses such as child and slave labor.
6. Buy products from sustainable sources like bamboo.  Purchase products not tested on animals, made from renewable sources and packaged with recyclable and minimal packaging.
7. Electronic purchases: Consider buying "Pre-Owned" goods.  Purchasing previously owned products is a great way to implement the sustainability concept of recycling.  Ebay and Craig’s list are two good sources.  Also ask your electronics store about recycling options for older models.
8. Speak up!  Manufacturers are listening! Use social media to connect with business to communicate your preferences and experiences.  Consumers are the biggest drivers of sustainability changes.

 
With a little education and pre-planning, it's easy to maintain eco awareness in your shopping- even during the most inconvenient times.  Sustainable purchasing  is important because it can help you make better choices.  Those choices expand eco awareness within your network of friends and family, positively impact your local economy, reduce your footprint on the environment, and may actually help you save money in the process.

Whenever you want to improve in a specific area or program, just the process of increasing awareness will yield improvements.  The same applies to living a sustainable lifestyle.  Most of us recognize that change can be tricky:  habits and convenience make it far easier to slip back into the comfortable way of doing things.  However, implementing effective sustainable change does not have to be a laboring process.  The key is conscious awareness.
 
Awareness is the tool used to help discover the personal patterns of behavior that offer low hanging fruit for a sustainable lifestyle.  For instance, are you aware of your habits related to energy?  Consider how and when you consume the most energy in your day?  How could you be more efficient? What inspiring eco actions could you take? 
 
Conscious awareness is key to sparking the eco awareness in a personal sustainability program.  As noted in our eco friendly training, following are aids to assist in raising awareness:
 
•    Consciously notice what is most inspiring to you about living green and take eco action in those areas.
•    Notice your current patterns and invoke curiosity as to which eco actions would be a sustainable substitute.
•    Applaud your efforts: small changes add up.  In fact, daily habits have the most impact.
•    Observe how new changes become the new habit/ norm.
•    Momentum brings visibility to previously inaccessible ideas and behaviors.
•    Gain speed: There is ease in taking more eco action.
•    Inspire by living the example.
 
Each day we are presented with opportunities to expand our eco awareness and make informed choices.  The trick to capitalizing on those opportunities is being aware.  Conscious awareness offers us the opportunity to make changes that are inspiring and manageable relative our current life and the process of incorporating sustainability becomes much easier.  Being aware of sustainability concepts when shopping, or at work and play, contributes to living a more sustainable lifestyle.

Do you know why the recycling symbol has three chasing arrows? Each arrow represents one step in the three step process that completes the recycling loop.  The first arrow is the collection step. The second arrow is the manufacturing process in which recyclable materials are converted into new products and the third arrow represents the step where consumers purchase products made with recycled content.
 
We've found in our eco friendly training, that most people living a sustainable lifestyle help the recycling effort by putting materials in their recycling bin but fail to realize the importance of completing the recycling loop by purchasing recycled products. 
 
Buying products made from recycled materials is a key step in supporting recycling programs and resource conservation. Water, energy, and environmental resources are saved when recycled products are purchased.  Not to mention products receive a new life and a different purpose. 
 
You can do your party by taking eco action and purchase recycled products.  Next time you are ready to buy, educate yourself with eco awareness.  Those choices expand eco awareness within your network of friends and family, positively impact your local economy, reduce your footprint on the environment, and may actually help you save money in the process.

Is it living off the grid? Living in a green house? Working at a green job?  What exactly does it mean to be green?
 
At its essence, a sustainable lifestyle, or living green, refers to a lifestyle and set of choices that minimizes a person's environmental impact.  While living green embraces sustainability concepts of efficiency, organics, waste management, and so forth, the mindset is more important than the eco actions.  Why?  Because life is dynamic.    As expressed in our eco friendly training, applying sustainability concepts one way today may not be the sustainable solution of tomorrow.  Your life circumstances change so it's in your approach to life that matters.
 
Being green is a continuous improvement process that challenges us to expand our own personal eco awareness and experiment with new ideas and sustainability concepts in our lives as they unfold.   The essence of a sustainability mindset reflects one of wholeness and appreciation for natural resources, communities, and the gifts our planet gives to us.   A personal sustainability plan is a journey: you never get it done. 
 
Green homes, eco gadgets, living off the grid, and all of the many "demonstrations" of a sustainable lifestyle are the results of a mindset framed with eco awareness.   From the perspective of a green living consultant, what is considered to be green is continuing to evolve.  Our personal consulting practice encourages all to keep up with evolution by embracing a sustainability mindset.  

Whether you work from your home office full time or part time, by working at home you’re reducing the use of fuels and limiting the amount of pollution generated by traditional means of transportation.  Your environmental efforts are worthy, but as we share in our eco friendly training, there are more eco actions you can do to help protect the environment.
 
Looking for ideas?  Following are some suggestions offered for consideration:
 
Furniture / Building Material used:
•    Opt for furniture made from local, sustainably harvested resources when possible.
•    Select carpet and rugs made of natural fibers or recycled materials.
•    Flooring options include bamboo, recycled/ reclaimed wood, or ceramic tiles made from recycled glass.
•    Decorate your walls with low VOC paints.
 
Heating/ Cooling/ Lighting:
•    Sign up for sustainable energy sources: renewable energy credits, wind energy, and home solar systems are a few ways that you can use sustainable energy sources in your own home.
•    Use natural lighting as well as compact fluorescent bulbs.
•    Insulate well.
 
Transportation:
•    Use public transportation or commute by bike.  Other options include teleconferencing and video conferencing.
•    If travel is required, travel with the environment in mind.
 
Waste:
•    Invoke the sustainability concepts of the three R's: reduce, reuse, and recycle and apply it to everything: paper, print cartridges, office supplies, etc.  Remember to reduce waste by limiting what you purchase.  Purchasing less means less waste.
•    Leverage technology to go paperless.
 
Energy efficiency:
•    Reduce unnecessary electrical consumption: unplug seldom used devices.
•    Utilize power strips for commonly used devices.  Choices include Watt stopper and Bits limited.
•    Unplug chargers (think cell phones and iPods) when not in use. Only 5% of the power drawn by a cell phone charger is used to charge the phone. The other 95% is wasted when it is left plugged into the wall.
•    Remember to purchase energy star equipment.
 
Improve indoor air quality:
•    Plants and natural / non toxic cleaners contribute to improve indoor air quality encouraging good health and improved productivity.
 
Purchasing:
•    Establish environmentally responsible purchasing guidelines for supplies and criteria for vendors.
•    Source eco friendly office supplies.
•    Purchase and dispose of electronic equipment responsibly.
 
By implementing some or all of these sustainability concepts, you are well on your way to a sustainable home office.  

Did you know the White House is going paperless?  In fact, The White House recently released the nation's first paperless budget.   And the good news?  The Office of Management and Budget estimates that this year's 2,200-page paperless budget will save 20 tons of paper (about 480 trees).   If the government can go paperless, then you can too!
 
As discovered in our business sustainability consulting, most business leaders identify cost savings as the driver towards moving towards a paperless office.  Granted, reduced consumption and eliminating storage space does save money.  However, the added bonuses of increased productivity and the availability to work remotely make moving to a paperless office appealing. In fact, it's the triple bonus of reducing environmental impacts that makes going paperless the winner.
 
If you aren't sure about the benefits of paperless for your business, ask yourself,
How does your company manage the influx of emails, reports, and information from social media sites?  Did you know that approximately 90% of electronic content coming into an organization is unstructured data and about 80% of that is unmanaged.  Well, considering that about 30% of a worker's time is spent searching for a document or recreating it, paperless document management systems become an appealing alternative.
 
Building a sustainable business and going paperless doesn't have to be hard.  Shared in our eco friendly training are some of the benefits you can expect by going paperless: 

•    increase productivity
•    eliminate storage space
•    reduce expenses
•    create the ability to work remotely
•    enhance customer service
•    increased security
•    better disaster recovery protection
•    reduces your environmental impact
•    improve your competitiveness in the industry
 
Looking for resources?  Check out: A Guide for SME's: How and Why to go Paperless or The Paperless Office.

Forward thinking designers around the world are merging fashion with eco awareness.  Hence the term,  “eco-fashion.”  It refers to stylized clothing that uses environmentally sensitive fabrics and responsible production techniques.  
 
As a green living consultant introducing sustainability concepts to living a green/ sustainable lifestyle, it makes sense to look for different ways to integrate eco awareness into your life.  The most impactful areas of our lives are those that we do by habit.  We dress daily, so why not add eco awareness to our fashion? 
 
With eco awareness on the rise, more and more sustainable options are becoming available.  Even traditional brands like Levi's, American apparel, and Nike are offering eco friendly apparel.  While it's always fun to purchase new clothes, it's best to use what you've got and sprinkle in new eco fashion items as you need them. 
 
Guidelines to get you started:

• First, use what is in your closet!  If you don't wear it, donate it or recycle it in some way.
• When shopping, remember to keep sustainability concepts in mind.   Local shops are a great place to start.
• Some prefer natural fibers or organic clothing.
• Plan your purchases.  Is it possible to buy the desired item from fashion designer embracing business sustainability?   For instance, a line per se may be an eco friendly design. 
• Another option is to purchase an item that can be purchased from multiple stores, select to purchase it from a business that embeds sustainability programs in its core business:  Wal-Mart or JC Penny, for instance.
• Evaluate products on the full lifecycle.   That is, your own personal lifecycle.  Is this a trendy item or one that goes with only one outfit?  Opt for multi outfit items that will last through a couple of seasons.   How it will be discarded later?  Patagonia offers a take back program.
• Consider the care of the garment.  If it can be washed in cold water and hung dry, it's a winner.  Dry cleaning required?  Not such a great option.
• When applicable, buy Fair Trade.
• Buy products from sustainable sources like bamboo.

 
Not sure where to find fashionable eco clothing?  Following are some resources suggested in our eco friendly training to get you on your way:
 

• Modern Hippy Mag
• Focus Organic
• The green girls

For those on the path of living a sustainable lifestyle, there’s power in leveraging purchases to support credible and sustainable businesses.  With business sustainability permeating the fashion world, there are more and more options available to look and feel great while wearing fashionable eco wear. 

Looking for eco actions to do on the weekend that won’t set you back a lot of money or hurt the environment?   While there are numerous benefits to green living, some mistakenly think it requires more effort and costs more.  Not so!  Our eco friendly training classes offer fun ways to kick start living a sustainable lifestyle.  The first step is creating eco awareness.  Why not start this weekend? 
 
 
50 fun and different eco activities to save some green:
 
1.    Go for a hike in the woods
2.    Share your photos online
3.    Learn 50 new ways to use your iPod for more than music
4.     Have a picnic
5.    Take the kids to the park
6.    Visit a museum -There are lots of free museums and many others take a donation
7.    Work on an arts and craft projects
8.    Go paperless for the entire day
9.    Watch this video on recycling and see how these recycling tips make a big difference in saving our environment while creating green jobs in the process.
10.    Turn your monitor off when you are away and shut down your computer and monitor when finished using it.
11.    Check out fun Online Games That Challenge Your Eco-socio-political Skills
12.    Look around your home and office and unplug seldom used appliances
13.    Play board games
14.    Play a pickup basketball or volleyball game in the park
15.    Learn ways to recycle your junk
16.    Visit the library. Take out books, movies, music or take advantage of some of their great programs
17.    Take a free online class
18.    Eat an organic meal or purchase some fruits and veggies from a local farmer's market and compost your vegetable scraps
19.    Purchase green office supplies
20.     Do some bird watching
21.    Go for a bike ride
22.    Water: get to know what is in your water and use it efficiently
23.    Roller blade, Run, Ski, exercise outdoors
24.    Visit the zoo
25.    Go camping - enjoy the US National Parks system
26.    Read. Better yet, read a green blog
27.    Watch a play at a local theater
28.    Check out the latest green gossip on celebrities at Ecocrazzi for inspiration
29.    Plan an all green Valentine’s Day
30.    Apply the 3 R’s to your closet: reduce by removing clothes you no longer wear, reuse and recycle by donating to a local clothing donation
31.    Discover how Big Business is going green
32.    Visit a street fair
33.    Adopt a pet 
34.    Tour a fire house or police station
35.    Bake organic goodies
36.    Make a birdhouse
37.    Stroll through a public garden
38.    Work on your own garden
39.    Visit the state or county fair.
40.    Join a book club at the library
41.    Browse the flea markets.
42.    Take advantage of local cultural events
43.    Visit a dairy farm.
44.    Volunteer at a soup kitchen or another place that feeds meals to the homeless
45.    Have a scavenger hunt
46.    Teach yourself a new language using online tutorials and materials from the library.
47.    Jigsaw puzzles!
48.    Make a working volcano
49.    Have a campfire in your backyard, roast marshmallow and tell ghost stories.
50.    Clean out your house and have a garage sale
 
 
Have any fun eco tips to add to the list?
 

The Internet is rich with so many blogs and websites offering eco actions and informational how to's to address environmental and social concerns of pollution, climate change, carbon management and so forth.  But as a sustainability consultant working with the principals of The Natural Step, it appears that those eco actions could be more impactful if steered toward a collective brighter future for our world. 
 
A central step in business sustainability is using backcasting to create a clear vision of success in the future.  As a sustainable living consultant, this principal is easily applied to living a sustainable lifestyle.  Basically, backcasting means creating a clear vision of success in the future, and then using that understanding of success to determine the actions that need to be taken from today to get there.  Another way of expressing it is “beginning with the end in mind.”
 
As Einstein said, Imagination is everything.  It is the preview of coming attractions.  Masterfully use your imagination to power your dreams of living a greener lifestyle.  I joke in our eco friendly training classes that it's like trying on clothes before you buy them.  By imagining how you want to live greener and the ways in which you can do so, you can try on ideas to see which ones fit and inspire you to action. 
 
The keys to successful exploration?  It's all about fun.  Think a thought, see how it feels, if it's exciting, stay with it and explore it some more.  Before you know it, you will be well on your way to living a more sustainable lifestyle.  Wondrous thoughts to get you going:
 

• I wonder how much money I can save with new habits of energy efficiency at home this month?
• I wonder how much water I can save this month compared to last month? Or even, last year?
• I wonder how many days a week I can take public transportation? 
• I wonder what it would be like to commute  to work by bike in the spring?  I wonder which route I will take, which clothes I will wear, what the springtime flowers will look like?
• I wonder how many friends I can get in on my eco actions (organics, recycling, waste management) and take it to the next level - whatever that might be.
• I wonder how many new friends I might make by volunteering my time in a community project.
• I wonder what would happen at work if I decided to act on my thoughts about green.  I wonder how many others at work think the same as I do.  I wonder what sustainability programs we can lead together?

 
By imagining with our senses, it creates an image and an associated feeling.  Does that feeling inspire you towards that eco action?  I wonder how you can use that feeling right now to take steps towards your best future?

Lost in a sea of green?  Love the idea of living a sustainable lifestyle but don't have a clue as to where to start?   It’s no secret that going green is all the rage these days.  In fact, being eco-friendly is more popular and well accepted now than ever before in history. The thing is, eco awareness is gaining momentum, but not everybody knows exactly how to take the concept of going green and break it down into their day to day habits. 
 
While there are numerous benefits to green living, some mistakenly think it requires more effort and costs more.  Not so!  Our eco friendly training classes offer fun ways to kick start a personal sustainability plan.  The first step is creating eco awareness.
 
Take the Tuesday Ten Challenge.  Following are 10 free eco actions you take between the time you read this post and the time you go to sleep tonight that will help orient your thinking to one that includes sustainability concepts of energy efficiency, water efficiency, waste management, and community participation. 
 
Ready? Set?  Go!
 

1. Recycle: This is the easiest to start.  Separate paper, plastics, aluminum, and so forth into separate bins. 
2. Lights on only in rooms of use.
3. Use Less Water for Dishes: Scrape your dishes clean to reduce rinsing. Run the dishwasher only when it’s full.
4. Unplug unused items.  Remember, just because an item is unplugged does not mean it isn't drawing energy.
5. Clean up with non toxic cleaners.  Don't want to buy any? Try vinegar and baking soda.
6. Reuse old clothes by donating them to charity.  The best ones right now would be those charities assisting Haiti earthquake victims.
7. Wash Hands Efficiently: Turn off the water while you soap your hands, and rinse briefly.
8. Brush Teeth Wisely: Turn off the water while you brush your teeth and save 4 gallons a minute. That’s 200 gallons a week for a family of four.
9. Make a contribution to your favorite charity.
10. Take the paperless challenge and go the remainder of the day without using paper.

Sometimes, corporate sustainability is like playing telephone.  Witnessed from a high level, a company's corporate sustainability plan may embrace all the right frameworks, include the buzz words, and authentically and credibly, embrace sustainability initiatives.  However, witnessed from the employee level, all that jargon and vision may be lost. 
 
It seems there is a disconnect between a corporate sustainability plan and how that vision filters down and is exercised in the day to day processes of an individual worker's life.  Granted, there are leading organizations that have successfully tied process to sustainability initiatives; currently, they are the exception, not the norm.
 
So, how do engage employees in corporate responsibility?
 

• Corporate volunteering:  Engaging employees in corporately supported volunteering is an essential piece of all credible CSR programs that translates CSR values to action.

• Green teams are formal or informal groups of people in a company organized around environmental issues and tasked with ways to promote sustainable business practices. Green teams are excellent in spearheading eco efficiency programs: paper reduction, recycling programs, promote energy conservation, and more, making a huge difference within a department.  Great for team building too.

• Create individual employee sustainability programs. The basic premise of a personal sustainability program is to reduce the carbon footprint, lighten the load on the planet as well as reap the benefits of living a more sustainable lifestyle.    Eco actions taken in a personal sustainability plan can be anything from riding a bike to work or eating organic healthy meals or recycling.

• Educate: Offer ongoing workshops, training, lunch and learns, and educational activities to educate workers on the environmental issues (energy, water, waste, and others) and the associated actions causing the problems.  Identify new behavior and eco actions that individually workers can take to create new patterns of behavior and choices that support environmental solutions and are aligned with the company's overarching sustainability plan.   We've learned in our eco friendly training classes, the first part is educating; the harder part is changing the behavior. Ongoing education helps create lasting change.

 
Tying corporate sustainability initiatives to day to day processes makes CSR more personable to an employee and helps employees to identify their role in corporate responsibility.

First comes the New Year, and then comes the resolutions.  With eco awareness on the rise, it's not surprising that many New Year's resolutions are to start living green.   While green living may be the new buzz word, to start doing it may take some definition.
 
Our eco friendly training defines green living or a sustainable lifestyle as a set of choices that minimizes a person's environmental impact.  Why is living a sustainable lifestyle appealing?  A sustainable lifestyle is chosen for a host of reasons.  Some are inspired to protect natural resources while others are called to ensure healthier living.  There are those that embrace a sustainable lifestyle because it makes sense financially.  Regardless of the source of inspiration, many are now finding the value in living green.
 
Here are 10 tips to get you started in living a sustainable lifestyle:
1.    Organics: visit your local farmer's market for organic fruits and veggies and use organic personal care and clothing from natural fibers.
2.    Recycling: recycle everything! Paper, materials, home items, and more!
3.    Energy efficiency: purchase energy efficient appliances.  Buy and use renewable or wind energy and monitor your use of energy.
4.    Water: get to know what is in your water and use it efficiently.
5.    Indoor air quality: use chemical free cleaners, live plants, sustainable fabrics and paint in your home. Your indoor air quality will improve and you'll support sustainable businesses producing green products.
6.    Green your home: Reduce your use of paper and eliminate junk mail.
7.    Innovate and inspire your employer and coworkers and green your work.
8.    Green your travel.
9.    Make every day choices matter.
10.  Explore which alternative transportation option is interesting to you. 
 
Worried about making those resolutions stick?  Here are a few more tips:

1.    Select one eco action that you feel inspired to act on.  The key words here are one and inspired.   If it's a big resolution and meaningful to you, we suggest picking one thing.  Also, go for something BIG!  An area in which you really want to see achievement and a feeling of reward. 
 
2.    Break it down.  Start by working backwards working from the end result to where you are now.  One of the biggest problems is that the goals we set are sometimes too drastic or too big to bite off.  We make efforts towards that goal and when we see little to no progress, we give up.  So, by breaking it down, backwards, you get an idea of what stage you would like to be in towards that development.  Then, start taking action towards the smaller, incremental goal.  In time, that goal will lead you to the next incremental goal and then the final goal.
 
3.    Recognize and acknowledge indicators.  Indicators are improvements in your mood towards your goal.  If you are feeling good about your efforts, how you are doing, noticing yourself taking action in a positive way, acknowledge yourself.  In fact, focus exclusively on the positive efforts you are making and that in itself will align you more with the achievement of your resolution.
 
4.    Have fun with it.  If you can find creative ways to document your efforts and success while holding yourself accountable, then you'll not only find success but enjoy the process as well.
 
Our sustainability plans address topics from increasing eco awareness into your life, to extending sustainability concepts in business.   The guidelines mentioned above have helped all of our clients and I hope they help you too.  Happy New Years!

With oil, natural gas, and energy receiving most of the popular press, the often forgotten resource that presents the greatest challenge to local communities is the availability of fresh water.  Unlike energy constraints, water cannot be economically brought in from neighboring areas in tankers, on trucks, or even in transmission pipelines.  With all the advances in technology, communities still rely on the access and availability of a local water  supply. 
 
Because water supply and demand are so tightly linked at a local level, communities are becoming increasingly aware of their water supply and actively managing demand.  The post, The Water/Energy Link, addresses how water and energy are intrinsically related; energy is needed to transport and deliver water while generating power requires massive quantities of water. There are opportunities to conserve both resources simultaneously.  In fact, the U.S. EPA has quantified the water/ energy savings opportunity: equating 1 gallon of water to approximately 4 watt hours of power.
 
What eco actions can we take to preserve water?  Our eco friendly training classes addresses the question with some eco actions to take.  Why?  Because habits with eco awareness lead to sustainable living and a healthier environment.
 

• Going native:  According to the US Green Building Council, using native and adaptive plants can reduce landscaping watering costs by 50% to 100% depending on the region. Native and adaptive plants also require less fertilizers and pesticides, further reducing their maintenance costs.  Not sure what plants are native to your area? Plant Native provides lists of native plants by region. 
• Capturing Rainwater:  Rainwater collection systems collect water runoff from roofs or paved surfaces. This water is then filtered and stored for irrigation.  Harvest rainwater, not only conserves water, but also greatly reduces storm water runoff.  Filtered rainwater can also be used to flush toilets and urinals

 
Water Wise Personal Habits: the sustainability concept of water reduction can be applied to your daily personal habits.  Within our professional consulting practice, we often remind others that every little action adds up.  Which of these eco actions can you start taking today?

• Wash Hands Efficiently: Turn off the water while you soap your hands, and rinse briefly.
• Brush Teeth Wisely: Turn off the water while you brush your teeth and save 4 gallons a minute. That’s 200 gallons a week for a family of four.
• Use Less Water for Dishes: Scrape your dishes clean to reduce rinsing. Run the dishwasher only when it’s full.
• Take Hall Full Baths:  Try bathing in a tub that’s only half full to save water and the energy used to heat it.
• Shorten Your Showers:  Shorter showers save both energy and water—keeping your shower under 5 minutes can save up to 1,000 gallons a month.
• Stop Leaks:  turn off water faucets tightly so they don’t drip and repair leaks.
• Wash Clothes Wisely: Make sure your clothes are truly dirty before putting them into the hamper. Wash clothes only when you have a full load, and use cold water whenever possible.

Providing abundant clean water requires efforts from all angles, and individual water cycle management is a big part. The ability to effectively manage our water resources is essential for personal and global sustainability.

The past year has seen a significant shift in eco awareness and the debate on climate change.  In the world of business and finance, climate change has developed from a sidebar topic to a mainstream conversation.  Accompanying climate change discussions are questions as to how to increase eco awareness in business.  Fortunately, people are waking up to the idea that business sustainability is creating a bright spot of opportunity for businesses.
 
In building eco awareness into your business, we promote building of a comprehensive business sustainability program.  While that may be the preferred path, there are other steps you can take as well.
 
"Green Teams", a formal or informal group of people in a company who are passionate about environmental issues, are gathering in offices across America to brainstorm solutions and promote ways in which their company's practices can become more environmentally sustainable.  As explained in our sustainability consulting, a green team can reduce paper use, increase recycling, promote energy conservation, and more, making a huge difference within a department or building.
 
Link eco awareness programs to existing company offerings, as in wellness programs.   Wellness programs have been uses as instruments to address weight reduction, reduced stress levels, improved physical fitness, health, and well being.  They may include fitness, recreation, social activities and programs to enhance intellectual and spiritual development.  Providing employees with wellness programs not only provides them a way to improve their health, but it also demonstrates corporate social responsibility.
 
Create individual employee sustainability programs: The basic premise of a personal sustainability program is to reduce your carbon footprint, lighten the load on the planet as well as reap the benefits of living a more sustainable lifestyle.    Eco actions taken in a personal sustainability plan can be anything from riding a bike to work or eating organic healthy meals or recycling.  It can also be about achieving a personal goal, sustaining it, and building from that platform.
 
Educate: Offer ongoing workshops, training, lunch and learns, and educational activities to educate workers on the environmental issues (energy, water, waste, and others) and the associated actions causing the problems.  Identify new behavior and eco actions that individually workers can take to create new patterns of behavior and choices that support environmental solutions and are aligned with the company's overarching sustainability plan.   We've learned in our eco friendly training classes, the first part is educating; the harder part is changing the behavior. Ongoing education helps create lasting change.
 
Create a sustainable work environment: The benefits of a sustainable work environment include a healthier more sustainable workforce; a more productive workforce; attracts quality employees and reduces turnover. It also reduces lost work time related to health issues.
 
These efforts enable proactive businesses leaders to capture the benefits of sustainable business: reduce business costs, improve business reputation, and attract and maintain top job candidates.  

Are you familiar with Gary Larson's The Far Side comic titled, "When imprinting studies go awry?"   It's a personal favorite as it illustrates a mother duck followed by her baby ducks and then, the scientist following all of them.  As a reminder, you may recall from your science days that imprinting is the behavior of a young animal learning the characteristics of its parent. 
 
As it is, today’s companies face greater pressure than ever before from shareholders, customers, and employees to become more sustainable.  But how do you engage workers within your business to personally integrate sustainability into their everyday actions and decisions?  Perhaps it starts with business as the mother duck and not the scientist. 
 
Frequently, business leaders want their employees to exhibit behavior or take initiative only to be disappointed in a negative result.  However, as we share in our business sustainability consulting, if you want to engage people in your company to be personally involved in taking eco actions and becoming more sustainable in their personal lives, then it seems only natural that the organization itself would lead those sustainability efforts by demonstrating value for the sustainability concepts they are asking their employees to embrace.  On the corporate level, this takes the form as a formal sustainability plan or business sustainable strategies.  Perhaps integrating alternative commuting programs , waste and recycling programs, or as Wal-Mart has done personal sustainability programs. 
 
To extend sustainability concepts beyond the workplace and into employees living more sustainable lifestyle, we offer the following suggestions in our professional consulting with businesses:
 
Educate: Offer ongoing workshops, training, lunch and learns, and educational activities to educate workers on the environmental issues (energy, water, waste, and others) and the associated actions causing the problems.  Identify new behavior and eco actions that individually workers can take to create new patterns of behavior and choices that support environmental solutions and are aligned with the company's overarching sustainability plan.   We've learned in our eco friendly training classes, the first part is educating; the harder part is changing the behavior. Ongoing education helps create lasting change.
 
Create individual employee sustainability programs: The basic premise of a personal sustainability program is to reduce your carbon footprint, lighten the load on the planet as well as reap the benefits of living a more sustainable lifestyle.    Eco actions taken in a personal sustainability plan can be anything from riding a bike to work or eating organic healthy meals or recycling.  It can also be about achieving a personal goal, sustaining it, and building from that platform.  Tying a program to incentive structures is one way of demonstrating its importance in the organization.  Another option is to extend individual sustainability plans to groups or departments within the business and align goals/ metrics with the overarching sustainability plan of the company. 
 
Engaging workers within your business to personally integrate sustainability into their everyday actions and decisions starts with the organization and its leaders.  Leading the way and imprinting upon those the characteristics of eco awareness in daily life.  

Holiday parties are just around the corner and who doesn't want to sparkle and light up the room?  This holiday season, clients from our personal sustainability programs are opting to sparkle organically via organic makeup. 
 
Personal care product preferences are often very heavily brand-driven.   As a personal consultant to individuals seeking a more sustainable lifestyle, I encourage clients to evaluate alternatives to traditional brands.  Building a personal sustainability plan includes choosing products that are good for the environment as well as your personal health. 
 
Why opt for organic makeup?  According to the Organic Consumers Association (OCA), many conventional products continue to have alarmingly high levels of carcinogens and recommend avoiding products containing the following ingredients:
 
•    Cocoamidopropyl Betaine
•    Oelfin Sulfonate
•    Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate
•    Potassium Cocoyl Glutamate
•    Parabens
•    Phenoxyethenol
 
Our eco friendly training directs questions pertaining to safe ingredients in skin care to Skin Deep.  Skin Deep is a safety guide to cosmetics and personal care products brought to you by researchers at the Environmental Working Group. 
 
If you are curious as to the hottest organic makeup trends this holiday season, we're encouraging our clients in our eco friendly consulting to check out SaffronRouge. 

Saffron Rouge is the source for organic skincare and aromatherapy.  One sustainability concept is to purchase locally. If purchasing organic skincare locally isn't available to you, this is the place to go!  They offer everything from face and hair care, cosmetics, for women, men, and babies.   An added bonus, InStyle magazine recognized SaffronRouge as their choice for organic beauty online.  Bring on the sparkle!

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, E-waste is now the fastest growing part of the municipal waste stream.  It was estimated that between 2003 and 2010, more than three billion consumer electronic devices would be discarded.
 
In the U.S., global consumer electronics makers continue to ramp up efforts to recycle more e-waste. As an example, Samsung Electronics America Inc. has recycled 12 million pounds of e-waste in 2009.  Still, more effort is needed.
 
Incorporating responsible recycling practices into your business is one more step in building business sustainability.  A sustainable business strategy is to begin with the end in mind.   Consider sustainable purchasing which addresses environmental and social factors, as well as the total costs associated with each purchase. It means looking at what products are made of, where they come from, how they were made and how they will be disposed. 
 
Within our professional consulting, we recommend the following ideas to responsibly dispose of your e-waste:

• A first step mentioned in our eco friendly training for properly managing electronic products is to look in your Yellow Pages under Computer Dealers--Used and Recycled; Environmental and Ecological Services; Recycling Equipment and Services; Scrap Metals; Waste Disposal--Hazardous; or Waste Disposal, Reduction and Recycling.
• Recycling for Charities allows individuals an opportunity to recycle cellular phones, PDA’s, Palm Pilots, digital cameras, and iPods for value that is then donated to the charity of their choice.  What sets Recycling for Charities apart is the fact that they are the only 501(c) (3) Non Profit Organization recycling cell phones.  This sustainable business strategy not only helps protect the environment.
• Best Buy offers their Greener Together Program.
• Search Earth 911's database for electronics recycling. 
• Buying or selling used electronic pieces?  Check out Electronics Recycling.
• LampRecycling provides businesses with an easier system for recycling their fluorescent bulbs, CFLs, batteries, ballasts, and electronic waste, and tracking their recycling efforts.
• To recycle CDs, DVDs, video and audio tapes, look to GreenDisk. 
• BatteriesPlus offers recycling for batteries of all types: both commercial and residential use.
• The Directory of the North American Scrap Electronics Recycling Industry is available for a fee from Resource Recycling. The Directory contains extensive details about firms and organizations that acquire and process obsolete computers, peripherals TVs and other electronics.
• The Electronics Industry Alliance maintains a national list searchable by state.
• The International Association of Electronic Recyclers Directory of the Electronics Recycling Industry allows you to search for organizations that are involved in electronics recycling. Most of the database focuses on companies that provide recycling services for electronic products.
• National Recycling Coalition (NRC) hosts the National Database of Electronics Recyclers, Reuse Organizations, and Municipal Programs.

 
Your business makes decisions every day about what to buy and where to buy it. Cost and quality are important factors, but there are other things to consider when making purchasing decisions that will benefit your business and make a positive impact on society and the environment.  The good news is that most electronic components can now be reused, recycled, and diverted from the waste stream.       

Got plans for Sunday, November 15th?  Join up with folks across Texas to participate in Texas Recycles Day.  Texas Recycles Day  is a statewide public awareness campaign that aims to educate Texans on the environmental and economic benefits of waste reduction and recycling.  As a sustainability consulting firm located in Houston, Texas, we're excited to share the eco actions of our home state. 
 
 
The mission of the State of Texas Alliance for Recycling (STAR) is to promote and enhance recycling and diversion activities in the State of Texas.   As we explain in our eco friendly training, recycling can be an introduction to sustainability concepts in your life, leading to a more sustainable lifestyle.  For businesses, a recycling program contributes to business sustainability programs.  Why recycle?  Following are some of the benefits shared in our eco friendly consulting:
 

• Recycling benefits the air and water by creating a net reduction in ten major categories of air pollutants and eight major categories of water pollutants.
• In the U.S., processing minerals contributes almost half of all reported toxic emissions from industry, sending 1.5 million tons of pollution into the air and water each year. Recycling can significantly reduce these emissions.
• A national recycling rate of 30% reduces greenhouse gas emissions as much as removing nearly 25 million cars from the road.
• Recycling creates 1.1 million U.S. jobs, $236 billion in gross annual sales and $37 billion in annual payrolls.
• Thousands of U.S. companies have saved millions of dollars through their voluntary recycling programs. They wouldn't recycle if it didn't make economic sense.

 
If you are looking for recycling events to help spread recycling eco awareness, or curious to learn how to recycle questionable items, visit the website.
 
Our sustainability consulting approach emphasizes that changing habits is the key.  Once you have raised your eco awareness in one area of a sustainable lifestyle, it's easy to find new ways of embracing eco awareness in other areas of your life.  Recycling is a great place to start.   

Living green is all the rage and women especially have taken to adopting eco awareness in their daily living.   As a sustainability consultant introducing sustainability concepts to living a green/ sustainable lifestyle, it makes sense to look for different ways to integrate eco awareness into your life.  The most impactful areas of our lives are those that we do by habit.  Take for instance, your clothes. 
 
A common question from our lady clients is how to live green and dress green?   Frequently expressed is a concern of how to dress with eco awareness yet not compromise on fashion, quality, or personal style.  As green living consultant and professional consultant in business, I can relate and offer some suggestions. 
 

• First, use what is in your closet!  If you don't wear it, donate it or recycle it in some way. 
• When shopping, remember to keep sustainability concepts in mind.   Local shops are a great place to start.
• Some prefer natural fibers or organic clothing.
• Plan your purchases.  Is it possible to buy the desired item from fashion designer embracing business sustainability?   For instance, a line per se may be an eco friendly design.  
• Another option is to purchase an item that can be purchased from multiple stores, select to purchase it from a business that embeds sustainability programs in its core business.  Wal-Mart.  JC Penny, for instance.
• Evaluate products on the full lifecycle.   That is, your own personal lifecycle.  Is this a trendy item or one that goes with only one outfit?  Opt for multi outfit items that will last through a couple of seasons.   How it will be discarded later?  Patagonia offers a take back program. 
• Consider the care of the garment.  If it can be washed in cold water and hung dry, it's a winner.  Dry cleaning required?  Not such a great option.
• When applicable, buy Fair Trade. 
• Buy products from sustainable sources like bamboo. 

 
As explained in our eco friendly training, there are more and more options becoming available.  Here are a few ideas for sprinkling some eco awareness into your wardrobe:
 
Handbags: a personal favorite for its vibrant colors,   Recycled CANDY-WRAPPER handbags
Gretchen and Grace: Dedicated to the environment, Gretchen and Grace Greenwear provide the absolute best in eco-friendly stationery, accessories, and clothing produced with recycled and sustainable materials.
GreenLoop: Greenloop began in 2004 as Aysia Wright's endeavor in market based environmental activism, with the dual goals of using fashion as a vehicle for environmental change and providing a fashion conscious eco apparel shopping resource.
 
For those on the path of living a sustainable lifestyle, there’s power in leveraging purchases to support credible and sustainable businesses.  With business sustainability permeating the fashion world, there are more and more options available to look and feel great while wearing fashionable eco wear. 

What exactly is "living green"?  As described in our sustainability consulting practice, living green or sustainable living is a primary focus on eco awareness with actions towards reducing ones carbon footprint, managing waste, and embracing sustainability concepts in decision making.  But, did you know that sustainable living can improve your health? 
 
Living a sustainable lifestyle and improving your heath is easier than you think.  Here are favorite eco actions our clients have taken in their personal sustainability programs that have helped them to live green and improve their health. 
 
Improve Indoor Air Quality:
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that Americans spend up to 90% of their time indoors.   Improved indoor air quality can directly contribute to good health, improved productivity and ability to sustain living a sustainable lifestyle.  Solutions recommended in our eco friendly training to improve indoor air quality include:

• Open your windows.
• Clean with natural, non toxic cleaners.
• More plants! Living, green and flowering plants can remove several toxic chemicals from the air in building interiors.  
• Use non toxin pest control.
• Paint with low VOC paints.

 
Go Organic:
What's organic?  Products labeled “100% Organic” and carrying the “USDA Organic” seal are just that – they contain all organically produced ingredients.  As a green living consultant, I explain that organic refers to the way agricultural products are grown and processed.  It includes a system of production, processing, distribution and sales that assures consumers that the products maintain the organic integrity that begins on the farm.  Try these ideas for living green and improving health:

• Eat organic foods.  Organic foods have more nutrients and less pesticide residue. 
• Use organic skincare.
• Sleep on an organic mattress.
• Enjoy organic fabrics for linens, towels, and clothing. 

 
As a green living consultant, I encourage further exploration.  Consider learning what is in your water, bike commuting and reconnecting with nature as other eco actions to take to live green and improve your health.