Green Living Consultant

How does the old adage go?  Two aspirin a day keeps the doctor away?  Well, we subscribe to the idea that blogging 2 posts a day, inspires eco action each day.  Truth be told, as sustainability consultants, we like to lead by example.  

Within our business sustainability consulting practice, it's not uncommon to encounter those executives that say sustainability is too hard, too resource intensive, or that it's a passing trend.  With big aspirations, 3 years ago Taiga Company set out with the intention of writing 2 blog post each day to dispel the myth that sustainability and living a sustainable lifestyle is hard.  Blogging is sort of like writing an essay. Imagine writing 2 essays, every week day, in addition to your regular workload, the requirements of your personal life, sick or not sick, holiday or not holiday, vacation or no vacation…you get the picture.  

There are ups and downs in life and there are easy days and harder days.  While it's easy to be green or execute sustainable business strategies when things are good, most fall short when the challenges increase. The intention of writing 2 blog post each weekday is a living example that you do the best you can with what you've got.  Some post are great.  Others, not so great.  But, the posts demonstrate the commitment to sustainability regardless of the ebbs and flows of life.  And, it demonstrates that sustainability isn't all or nothing. Short story: we all can take eco action daily and we don't have to be perfect about how we do it.

So what about blogging for a sustainable purpose?  To have an impact in communicating the sustainability business strategies of your business or consulting firm, it's not required that you blog as frequently.  However, there are benefits to blogging.  Blogging on sustainability related topics offers a host of benefits: insights to new, fresh perspectives of sustainability; a resource for tools, services, white papers; and more importantly, how your business is leading in the sustainability space.  

If you are new to blogging you may not realize there are ways to spread the great green news that you are writing about in your blog posts.  

• Consider building your community of linking your blog post to LinkedIn and Facebook updates.  
• Engage with stakeholders on Twitter to promote relationships.
  
• Collaborate and participate in conversation on LInkedIn groups specific to sustainability concepts of water, energy, and carbon.  
  

2011 has been a wonderful year for Taiga Company.  Not only have we reached over 25,000 twitter followers but our blog reach has exploded beyond expectations.  Extending deep gratitude to all who have helped promote, share, and "pollinated" green goodness in our world, we thank you. 

If you've been reading for some time, you are familiar with our sustainability consulting views: thoughts create our world.  Sustainable leadership paves the way for others to follow and by living an inspiring life demonstrating eco awareness, you invite and empower others to find the value in a sustainable lifestyle for themselves.  In that spirit, we offer our favorite Taiga posts of 2011.  While they were some of the top sustainability posts on our blog this year, we hope they will be a platform of green inspiration in the year to come.  

• Your Business Doesn't Buy into Sustainability but Your Investors Do!
  
• 12 Step Guide to Green Your Small Business 
  
• Leadership Matters
  
• How Expansive is Your Green Universe?
  
• Tips to Living a Zero Waste Lifestyle
  
• 15 Sustainable Business Ideas for the Year Ahead
  
• 5 Ways to Green Your Summer Fitness Routine 
  

If you've enjoyed these post, please consider subscribing to our blog or newsletter.  We welcome you to join the sustainability conversation on Twitter and Facebook too! Happy 2012! 

Today, escalating conversations on topics such as climate change, carbon legislation, energy independence, and growing consumer eco awareness generate forward eco movement for some but simultaneously create confusion and skepticism for others.  While many New Year's resolutions were made to address these issues, many find that those resolutions are too big of a chunk to bite off.  So what are meaningful ways to create and keep green New Year's Resolutions?

At Taiga Company, we use a softened approach in our sustainability consulting practice to assist clients to ease the transition from "eco curious” to "eco living".   Permission is one key to dissolving resistance, confusion, and stagnation in moving forward in a sustainable lifestyle. Allowing yourself to have permission to NOT do something gives you the freedom to explore what it is you WANT to do.  Consider giving permission in these ways to promote eco action: 

It's okay to focus eco action in particular areas of interest or inspiration.

• It's okay to address less interesting areas of eco awareness later.
• A sustainable lifestyle is not an all or nothing approach.
• Living a sustainable lifestyle is not a single cookie cutter solution that applies uniformly to everyone.  Each individual finds the value in it for themselves.
• Each eco action you take on behalf of the environment does make a difference.
• Aim to incorporate sustainable actions that easily fit into your current lifestyle.
• There are shades to green living.  There will always be room for improvement.
• Celebrate your successes and continually approach life seeking eco awareness in your choices and your habits.

Just thinking about sustainability or even a sustainable lifestyle can be daunting subject to anyone when viewed in its entirety.   By making changes that are inspiring and manageable relative your current lifestyle, the process of incorporating sustainability becomes much easier - and easier to keep those green New Year's resolutions.

What is green living?  Is it living off the grid? Living in a green house? Working at a green job?  What exactly does it mean to be green?

A good portion of our sustainability consulting is really about helping executives and employees discover what sustainability means to them.  In many ways, it is about transformation and discovery.  Basically a process by discovering hidden treasures in daily habits that unite conscious habits and routines with eco awareness and eco actions to take.   Most of us recognize that change can be unsettling.  It can be scary, and too often it is just easier to slip back into a traditional and comfortable way of doing things.  However, implementing effective sustainable change does not have to be a laboring process.  How can we make sustainability work for us in 2012?

Create a plan - Personal sustainability programs are about making and sustaining a change in your life that you can be inspired and passionate about.  Although a sustainability plan originates as a comprehensive one, your actions are the expression of that plan in daily life. Eco actions can be anything from riding a bike to work or using eco-friendly office supplies to eating organic healthy meals or recycling.  It can also be about achieving a personal goal, sustaining it, and building from that platform.  Ultimately, it's about making choices that feel good to you and generate an expectation of more and better to come in your life and the environment.  

The basic premise of a personal sustainability program is to reduce your carbon footprint; lighten the load on the planet as well as be good to yourself, others, and your community.  

Do the green thing via subcategory or importance.  Categorizing gives awareness to the habit change as it relates to the sustainability concept.  For instance, energy consumption and turning off a light as you leave a room, or replacing bulbs, or using an energy strip. Another perspective is to prioritize the habit as it relates to environmental impact.  If your carbon footprint is large due to travel, then explore ways to reduce your travel. Suggestions made in our eco friendly consulting include: telework, virtual conferences, and green travel options.   

Schedule time.  If the habit requires a new way of doing things, then schedule time to learn the new habit, integrate it into your routine, and make adjustments as you learn.  Bike commuting would be an excellent example of embracing a new habit, reducing your carbon footprint, yet, requiring time to learn and develop a new routine. 

Reward and Review.  The process of linking sustainable living with new opportunities for development creates a personal incentive that further promotes the process.  Sustainable actions are reinforced daily by positive feedback from realizing your personal goals.  

Each of us has a role to play.  What is it that you specifically care about?  Is it the natural beauty in your neighborhood?  The campsite you visit each year?   Spotting wildlife?  Maybe it's that first breath of fresh air as you step outside to go to work each day.  Connect with that, and take eco action to support that.  Explore the habits and areas of your life that you can take eco action to support the environment that you love.  Your actions are a green beacon of light to others calling them forth to find the value, the eco actions for them to support the environment that they love. Inspiring eco awareness in others makes sustainability work for us all.  

For many, this year has marked a desire to expand personal growth in eco awareness and a desire for personal improvement.   Now, as the year closes and we find ourselves uniting with friends and family for the holiday season, it's a time to share and reflect with our loved ones.  Many will share personal stories of how eco awareness has shaped their lives. Hopefully, some of those stories will be inspiring to others. 

• Get Taiga in Your Inbox 
• Strategic Sustainability Consulting Newsletter
• A Hidden Gem: Wave Maker Newsletter Promoting Sustainable Business

We are paying more for our cars than we realize.
 

• Number of bikes that can be parked in one car parking space in a paved lot: 6 – 20.
• Number of racks for bicycle parking in Seattle: 1,900.
• Estimated cost of constructing one parking space in a paved lot: $2,200.
• Estimated cost of constructing one parking space in a garage: $12,500. (for more information click here).

The web is full of information and advice on personal sustainability, sometimes to the point that it can put one into information overload. However if you are looking for a ‘how-to’ path to personal sustainability, you are more likely to discover a variety of definitions, perspectives, and approaches to applying general sustainability concepts. While general concepts can be used to describe the broad topic of ‘sustainability’, our personal consulting experience has led us to understand that each individual has a unique and personal story in the pursuit of a sustainable lifestyle.  

• Take the 90 Day Better Life Challenge 
• Create A Personal 20-20-20 Plan
• Use the The 7 Day Green Power Pledge to jump start living green.

According to the EPA, household waste jumps an astounding 25 percent between Thanksgiving and the New Year.  For those living a sustainable lifestyle, the trick to a successful holiday season is knowing how to enjoy the holidays while also minimizing waste. 

• Zero Waste 101 
• Tips to Living a Zero Waste Lifestyle
• Trim Waste this Holiday Season
• How to Clean Up Responsibly after Christmas

What can the World’s Most Ethical (WME) companies teach us about business success? Well, on average, companies that go beyond simple ‘ethical’ claims out-perform their peers. In fact, this year’s WME honorees generated 30% greater returns than the S&P 500, demonstrating a strong correlation between responsible actions and business success.  

1. Big and small firms continue to join forces.  Continued B2B collaboration.
2. Continuation of private/ public NGO forces uniting for greater good
3. Continued focus on biodiversity from a business perspective (see, Dow Asks, What's the Business Case for Protecting Nature?)
4. Water: access to water, water management, water in the supply chain
5. Transparency and reporting - especially integrated reporting of financial and sustainability reports. A growth in the number of organizations reporting as noted by the Carbon Disclosure Project. 
6. Green Supply Chain - elevating sustainable supply chain management as a strategic business sustainability function
7. Local and organic food gains more momentum
8. Emerging markets and their impact
9. Wider adaptation of social media for stakeholder engagement
10. The role of boards: oversight and inclusion of business sustainability mandates 

While today’s executives are presented with the unique opportunity to increase profitability through greater eco awareness and the pursuit of  sustainable business practices, our sustainability consulting firm believes the engaged employee has a definable path to rise.   What do executives need to know about employee engagement?   That it matters.  

• The Corporate Leadership Council reports that engaged organizations grew profits as much as three times faster than their competitors. They found that highly engaged organizations have 87% less staff turnover and 20% better performance than average.
• A global survey by Tower Perrins-ISR, involving more than 664,000 employees in 50 companies, found that the operating income of companies with engaged employees improved by 19% in one year, while it declined by 33% for companies with low levels of employee engagement.
• Fully engaged employees are 2.5 times more likely to exceed performance expectations than their disengaged colleagues.
• 59% of engaged employees say their job brings out their most creative ideas against only 3% for disengaged employees.

• While many factors – such as leadership, integrity, immediate management and fair treatment – influence employee engagement, increasing evidence shows that performance on sustainable development also plays part. For example, a survey by Ipsos Mori10 found that:
• 70% of employees with a favorable perception of their company’s community engagement plan to stay for the next 2 years vs. 50% of those with a less favorable perception.
• 75% would recommend their company if they feel it is environmentally responsible vs. fewer than 50% if it is not.
• 47% of jobseekers are more likely to join/stay with a company that addresses social issues.
• 75% of employees who consider their employers to pay enough attention to environmental protection and sustainable development exhibit higher levels of commitment.

• Energy efficiency: Employee engagement is an effective, but possibly underutilized strategy for improving energy efficiency .  In fact, energy efficiency can be a gateway to wider business innovation and engage stakeholders in broader process evaluations.
• 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. 

Looking for eco home projects 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!  

• Top 10 Plants to Reduce Stress, Cut Toxins, and Live Green
• Clean Green
• Finding a Greener Pest Control Option 
• Splish Splash: 20 Ways to Green your Bathroom
• Eco Friendly Painting: A Breath of Fresh Air
• Decorate the Eco Friendly Way
• Transform your Home Office to a Green Office
• 30 Green Home Repair Projects to Save Money and the Environment
• Energy Efficient Superstars: Are You One of Them?
• Top 20 Green Tips for Improving Your Home Indoor Air Quality
• I Recycle. You Recycle. We all Recycle.
• Sharing and Re-Use: Is it the Same Thing?
• Buy or Barter? Best Trading Websites

How many eco actions does it take for them to count?   According to the post, Does Size Matter for Ideas?, "the basic logic we use is the bigger the idea, the bigger the value, but often that's not true. There's a myth at work here: the assumption that big results only come from radical changes." 

1. Buy perishable groceries only as needed: It saves $50 a week and eliminates wasting produce and dairy products.
2. Recycle cans, bottles, and paper: This cuts the family’s contribution to landfill by 66 percent.
3. Insulate your hot water pipes.  Insulation will not only raise the temperature throughout the system with a lower water temperature setting, but you also conserve water since you don’t have to wait as long for hot water whenever you turn on a faucet or a shower. 
4. Switch to CFLs, unplug computers, and turn out lights when leaving the room: That reduces electricity usage by one third.
5. Grow a vegetable garden: It saves $300 a month on summertime groceries.
6. Buy an annual share in a local organic farm: reduce what you pay each week for produce.
7. Fix plumbing leaks.  A single leaky faucet can waste over 200 gallons of water a month
8. Insulate the attic floor: It saves 156 gallons of oil — and approximately $546 — over one winter.
9. Install a rain-water-collection system and soaker hoses: That cuts summertime water consumption in half.
10. Install shades, drapes, awnings or sunscreens.  Consider products that block light on hot sunny days and retain heat during cold weather. This may seem old-fashioned and “lo-tech”, but it's time-tested and surprisingly effective.
11. Buy a programmable thermostat.  By setting your thermostat on a timer you’ll save energy but still enjoy heating and cooling when you need it most.
12. Lower the temperature on your water heater by a few degrees to save gas and/or electricity.
13. As old appliances fail, purchase new appliances with the Energy Star rating. 
14. Reduce unnecessary electrical consumption: unplug seldom used devices (think cell phones and iPods). 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.
15. Utilize power strips for commonly used devices.  Choices include Watt stopper and Bits limited.
16. Close the fireplace damper tight when the heating season is over.
17. Wash full loads when using the washing machine or clothes dryer.  Using less hot water around the house saves energy too. Launder clothes in cold or warm water and take a shower instead of a bath.
18. Plant shrubs and trees around the air conditioning condenser to improve its operating efficiency. The shade makes it work less to cool the refrigerant circulating from the inside air handler. In fact, the Arbor Day Foundation offers ten free shade trees when you purchase an annual membership. 

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as many as 36.4 million potential “trick-or-treaters” go door-to-door on Halloween canvassing among the approximate 106 million occupied housing units in search of treats.  

• Ability to Slay Energy Vampires   
• Poof! Invent Green Halloween costume ideas
• Magical plants to improve indoor air quality
• Special organic brews for magic potions
• Snap your fingers for waste reduction
• Tasty treats