Earning your Green Business Certification

by R. Michael Richmond

There is an uncertainty about how to achieve a Green Business status due to the various components that promote a more environmentally friendly business. Some say that it is about saving energy. Others point to the reduction of water use. Of course, you must consider all items that contribute to the indoor air quality. The plan might also include sustainable practices, recycling, and source reduction strategies. Confused? Well, that is why your Green Consultant is the person who will guide you through the maze using affordable strategies to help your company earn your Green Business certification. As the year pass, the demand for businesses to Go Green will be heightened by increased municipal, state, and federal regulations. Public awareness also creates a public relations concern about the Green factor of the company. The basic concern of Going Green is to create a healthier workplace and to decrease any non-environmental pollution to the outside world. After twenty years, we have all graduated from global concerns for whales and owl to an understanding that we have been causing immense damage to the health of workers and students. Long term exposure to chemicals has raised nearly every form of disease and weakened our immune systems. With this awareness comes a sense of bewilderment trying to understand where it all went wrong, and how to put it all right. Businesses are not as worried about Going Green as they are the cost and intrusion into their business of the Greening process. We are hearing of Green products and Green buildings, but how does a business Go Green? Going Green is not a simple task for most business people. The responsibilities of operating a profitable business are immense. Certain time is scarce and studying the issues of Green Business are more than reading a few articles in the trade journals. Green is a kind of science that has expanding horizons, and it will take more than token efforts and odd donations to environmental causes. The Green Consultant is able to step into any business as an outsourced adviser and map out a simple and effective way to take any business to a Green Business certification. Green business is not the same as a Green building. Green businesses deal with the operational part of the business as well as the physical plant. It is true, that a Green facility may have a number of non-Green practices in place. It is also helpful to realize that Going Green does not happen in one surge of compliance. Replacing light bulbs, water restrictors, and cleaning chemicals are great ideas; but there are many issues left unresolved. This is why the Green Management is a phased program that allows any company to add pieces of Green compliance on an ongoing basis. In fact, the program awards points for each and every improvement that is made in the operation. Some suggestions are as simple as adding a few of the ten varieties of live plants that eat up volatile organic compounds from the air. Earning your Green Business certification is accomplished in as little as three months or as long a one year. Each business has the option of choosing which piece that should be incorporated in the operation, and to budget modest costs as available in the budget. Other benefits are found in joining the Green Business League to open doors of fresh business with hundreds of other Green businesses.