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Conservation Corner

By Amanda Bucha

 We are not alone in our quest to create a more sustainable workplace. The following article was released on 12/30/2007 and discusses how many companies are changing their habits and becoming more environmentally aware. The reasons include saving money, preparing for possible future regulations, and keeping up with the competition. Read all about it below!

Bottom Line Is Increasingly Green - Companies Linking Profit, Conservation

By: Bob Keefe (Cox News Service, LOS ANGELES)

After the hippies, the tree-huggers, the politicians and the entrepreneurs, corporate executives are starting to figure out that the environment really is important. 2007 could be called the year that big business went green. Someday, that could prove to be just as important to the environment as any social or political movement. Consider just a few of the steps big corporations took in the past 12 months:

Dell Inc. pledged to become the greenest technology company in the world and go "carbon neutral" by cutting back on its emissions of global-warming gases.

• Coca-Cola Co. made improvements such as more efficient lighting and irrigation at its Atlanta headquarters designed to cut its energy usage by 23 percent and its water consumption by nearly 15 percent.

• Delta Air Lines Inc. became the first carrier to offer tickets with "carbon offsets" that give money to conservation.

• Wal-Mart Stores Inc., after already pledging to use more solar power for its stores and explore alternative fuels for its trucks, introduced a plan to sell more sustainable products, including 100 million compact fluorescent bulbs.

• Google Inc. flipped the switch on one of the biggest solar power arrays in the world to power its headquarters. It started a massive program to reduce energy consumption in its giant data centers and announced it was investing hundreds of millions of dollars in research to figure out how to make renewable fuels cheaper.

Of course, public relations and marketing are a factor in many of the corporate changes. And critics are quick to accuse many big businesses of "greenwashing" -- trying to make themselves look more environmentally friendly than they really are.

But there's something that's even more important to big companies than PR: money. Corporate America sees potential profits in going green by appealing to more customers, attracting more capital from environmentally conscious investors, and saving on fuel and electricity bills.

If Coke meets its water and energy goals in Atlanta, for example, it could cut its utilities expenses by more than $1.3 million a year at its headquarters alone. "Finally, some of this stuff is becoming profitable," said Pratap Chatterjee, program manager at Corpwatch.org, a business watchdog group. There are other factors driving companies' interest in the environment, too.

Following the enactment of higher automobile mileage standards in the new federal energy bill, many in corporate America are convinced that even tougher environmental regulations are coming when a new president takes office in 2009. By starting to address such issues now, they can get a jump on future regulations. And some states are prodding companies. Florida has required managers of its $20 billion treasury fund to account for the risk of climate change in all investments.

Competition also plays a role. "You're starting to see big players in a lot of industries beginning to look at (addressing environmental issues) as essentially a competitive advantage," said Jon Coifman, spokesman for the National Resources Defense Council. "They know if they don't do something, their competitors will." Many corporations have made moves this year that could prove to make a big difference.

GREEN TIP FROM DONNA

Donna had a great suggestion! When you receive your pay check, recycle the envelope by giving it back to Jo. There is no reason to throw a perfectly good envelope into the trash.