Sustainability: business, life, environment

According to Senator John Kerry and Olympia Snow, “Small businesses should play a leading role in forging a solution to global climate change and rising energy prices.  “With small businesses accounting for over half of our fuel consumption, this bill (the Energy Independence and Security Act (H.R. 6) puts small business in the driver’s seat in the fight for a cleaner, greener future.”"
 
As a professional consultant in the area of building business sustainability, I have personally observed the ability of small businesses to quickly respond to changing market conditions, have lower risk than larger organizations, and incorporate reduced decision chain - all enabling them to integrate sustainability concepts into their businesses quickly and effectively.
 
The question is, "How do small businesses drive sustainable change?"  Leading small businesses are creating a business case for sustainability.  These companies are defining opportunities for improvement, linking them to specific business metrics, and creating scorecards to evaluate success.  These successful small businesses are doing so by leveraging small business resources already available within the business. 
 
A place to start includes benchmarking current energy and water consumption while employing methods to reducing consumption. This brings eco awareness to the workplace.   Further benefits include introducing sustainability concepts to employees, customers, and suppliers that bring value to the business.  This also accelerates change in the communities and lives of the individuals.
 
Small businesses are also leveraging social media to promote brand reputation and engage with prospects and customers.   Effective use of social media provides businesses a means to engage in conversation by publishing information, promoting others, and engaging with stakeholders.  Engaging stakeholders is a means of building sustainable business. 
 
At Taiga Company, our small business resources work directly with clients to build a business case for sustainability for small businesses.  Our professional consulting engages with key stakeholders to guide businesses to their unique links between defined sustainability concepts and their business value drivers to positively affect change in the workplace.