Green Business » Getting Started

SunRidge Farms Bike to Work Program

robertludvig — Wed, 05 May 2010 17:28:53 +0000

I love it when I find out wonderful things that some green companies do to help out the environment. It may be a feel good story or it may be just an idea that you can use for your company in helping it turn green. I recently corresponded with a team member from SunRidge Farms a grower of organic and natural foods, and what I found out was simple but it spoke volumes about the company and its commitment to green/enviromental issues. Sunridge has a bike-to-work program for its employees. This program pays employees $5.00 per day to ride to and from work. They say that some employees make as much as $100.00 per month.

I often get emails from people asking what kinds of things they can do to make their business more eco-friendly, so when I found out about SunRidge Farms’ bike-to-work program for employees I knew that I had to share it with all of you.

This just proves that the simpliest of ideas, just a little bit of imagination, can produce amazing things. I salute sunRidge farms and their commitment to the environment. I hope that small and large businesses out there can take Sun Ridge farms’ idea and perhaps impliment it in their comapny, or a variation of it. If it makes sense for your comapny, try doing something similar, or take SunRidge farm’s idea and make it grander.

Paying employees may not be possible if you have a small business, but there must be others ways to make a difference. If you are serious about making your company greener, no matter its size, why not have a round-table discussion and brainstorm how you can ‘green’ the company. If your comapny does not have a recycling program, that is a good place to start. If your business receives deliveries during the week maybe instituting a policy where all delivery drivers are not allowed to idle their vehicles for more than 2 or 3 minutes before having to shut the engine off. These small changes can lead to greater ideas and perhaps your company can come up with a simple yet important idea to make it a greener company. You may even want to share your ideas with our readers by leaving a comment below. Simple ideas and positive changes is where green business begins.

I often get emails from readers of this blog asking what kinds of things they can do to make their business more eco-friendly, so when I found out about SunRidge Farms‘ bike-to-work program for employees I knew that I had to share it with all of you.

I love it when I find out wonderful things that green companies do to help out the environment. It may be a feel good story or it might just be an idea that you can use for your company in helping it turn green. I recently corresponded with a team member from SunRidge Farms, a grower of organic and natural foods, and what I found out was simple but it spoke volumes about the company and its commitment to environmental issues. The bike-to-work program pays employees $5.00 per day to ride to and from work. They say that some employees make as much as $100.00 per month.

This just proves that the simplest of ideas, just a little bit of imagination, can produce amazing things. I salute SunRidge Farms and their commitment to the environment. I hope that small and large businesses out there can take SunRidge Farms’ idea and perhaps implement it in their company, or a variation of it. If it makes sense for your company, try doing something similar, or take SunRidge farm’s idea and add to it.

Let SunRidge Farms’ bike-to-work program inspire you. Small changes can lead to greater ideas and perhaps your business can come up with a simple yet important idea to make it a greener company. You may even want to share your ideas with our readers by leaving a comment below. Simple ideas and positive changes is where green business begins.

A Green Recovery

robertludvig — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:52:31 +0000

Invovative to cut costs. Make trucks more effeciaent. It, districution, fleet, LED are the norm now, thoook for innovation.

By focuses on getting ‘greener’ can speed up economic recovery. Taking a new path with big chunks of their opperations.Zero landfill waste, SUBERU in AMERICA.

Goal being sustainability. Person mention Walmart, series of innovations. new trucks to trainig drivers to be more efficient behind the wheel.. Make sustainabilty a part of normal work day. HOW?

1) set aside TIME,,,ask your employees ‘how can we be more efficenta? How can we get greener? Brainstorm. By becoming greener you might become more profitable. Less waste, more green, less financial watse.

2) Set aside money. Put money into research and developemnt – money that goes strictly to green projects.

3) awards and incentives. the ways we normanlly get people to do things.

By making it the everday normal part of business, then you wont have to wait for something, it is there, it is working, and it is getting bigger and better. Invest in yourself and in your comapny in these ways and you will surely become a green and more profitable business.

Andrew Winston is interviewed by Harvard Business Publishing on green recovery. He offers some amazing tips to green your business, and by doing so, becoming more efficient and profitable- being innovative to cut costs. By focusing on getting ‘greener’ we can actually speed up economic recovery. A company can become more efficient by taking a new path with big chunks of their operations. How does a business become greener? One way is to make their trucks more efficient. Also using Information technology and changing their distribution, fleet, and making LED lighting products the norm.

Look for innovation in any and all ways. In the end the goal is sustainability. A specific example mentioned is how Walmart made two innovations. They updated their trucks as well as training their drivers to be more efficient behind the wheel. Companies must make sustainability a part of the normal work day.

Mr. Winston says invest in yourself and in your company in these ways and you will surely become a green and more profitable business.

1. Set aside time: Ask your employees ‘how can we be more efficient? How can we get greener? Brainstorm. By becoming greener you might become more profitable. Less waste+More green=Less financial waste.

2. Set aside money: Put money into research and development, money that goes strictly to green projects.

3. Awards and incentives: The ways companies normally get people to do things.

A Green MBA Recipient Speaks

robertludvig — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 03:26:28 +0000

One of our goals at Green Business is to showcase wonderful people and the impact they are having in the field of green business, and to offer inspiration and perhaps advice to those who are seeking to get into a similar vocation. Maybe you want to help the environment, but you also have the desire to start a business – well, Maggie Peters, the amazing person in the following video, has merged both areas seamlessly.

As you can see from the video, its star isn’t wearing a business power suit, but she does have her MBA. She has remained true to her vision and discovered the key to personal, ethical and financial success – a balance that many environmentalists find difficult to find. The key here is the fact that she did not sacrifice money for ethics or ethics for money. Some people foolishly believe that you cannot have both, ethics and money. Maggie is proof that you can have both – take her lead. We salute Maggie!!

Studying at the Monterey Institute, she believes that she was provided with the tools, knowledge and the skills to achieve the things she so desperately wants companies to strive towards. If you want to study green business in school, this video is a great showcase of what you can do if you decide to get a ‘green’ MBA. Maggie mentions the green jobs that might be if interest to her, they include being a Sustainability Coordinator or a Corporate Sustainability Officer in a corporation that focuses not just on their financial bottom line, or their social and environmental impact within their own community, but one that really focuses further and stretches their minds beyond what they can see to future generations and development projects in other countries.

Green Business Idea – Green Janitor

robertludvig — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:08:04 +0000

One of our goals here at Green Business is to offer ideas to our readers to help them start their own green business. Another excellent example of a green business is a green janitorial service, maybe even cleaning LEED certified buildings. These green business owners and workers use environmentally friendly cleaners in their business. Harmful chemicals and other cleaning agents can negatively impact the environment, but using cleaning agents that leave little or no negative effect on the environment steers these businesses to the green side.

You might not even realize that the detergents and other chemicals used as cleaning agents could be hurting you, your pets or the environment. This is just another example of how smart entrepreneurs are changing industry by taking an existing business and putting a spin on it. As mentioned earlier, a key to starting your green janitorial service could be to focus on getting contracts in LEED certified buildings or commercial properties where having an environmentally friendly philosophy is of great importance.

The US Environmental Protection Agency also realizes the importance of environmentally friendly cleaning products. They have actually dedicated a portion of their website to this cause.

http://www.epa.gov/epp/pubs/case/doicase.htm

The US Department of the Interior specifies what they believe to be characteristics that all environmentally friendly cleaning products must share. These characteristics include:

1.Minimal skin, eye, and respiratory irritation.

2.Biodegradability.

3.Avoidance of undesirable or unnecessary dyes and fragrances.

4.Recyclable containers and minimization of non recyclable waste.

Ray Anderson: Pioneer of a Movement

robertludvig — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:43:21 +0000

It is difficult to start any type of business, so if you want to start a green business you better find out what your motives are. If you decide to begin the search, start by looking at the pioneer of green business, Mr. Ray Anderson. He will tell you his answers and motivations for starting an environmentally friendly carpet business many years ago, before running a green business was the thing to do.The reasons why the pioneer of green business started his company are truly inspiring. Two of Mr.Anderson’s philosophies? Take nothing, do no harm and only take from the earth what can be given back to the earth.

I have mentioned Mr.Anderson in previous posts, but I wanted to write about him again because his message is an important one, and vital to anyone who wants to start a green business. The environment and the business community can work harmoniously and thrive as one unit, working together for a greater good. Sappy? Yes. Truthful? Absolutely. So take a look at Ray and be as inspired as I am of a man who was ahead of his time, becoming a pioneer in green business. His dedication and vision are as inspiring as his words in this video.

In the following video, Mr.Anderson speaks about the logic of sustainability. After watching the video you may ask yourself, how could you not start a green business?

Environmentally Friendly Events

robertludvig — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:52:43 +0000

It never seizes to amaze me the amazing ideas people come up with in terms of creating unique green businesses. I recently came across a green business that is an original. The green business I am referring to sells eco-friendly products to throw sustainable parties for large and small groups. How smart is that?

The name of the company is Sustainable Party and they help you create environmentally friendly and socially responsible events of all sizes. Sustainable party sells compostable cups and other environmentally friendly products that anyone would need to throw a ‘green’ party. Part of Sustainable Party’s charm is they educate potential customers by offering information and tips on how to throw a socially responsible party. Their website offers a Best Practices Guide, free of charge, which is a 35 page PDF to anyone interested throwing eco-friendly event.

Small Green Business Ideas

robertludvig — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:21:26 +0000

So you want to start your own green business but you don’t have the necessary capital to get something off the ground. You don’t need to be rich to start your own green business, just make it a small green business. Ideas can be hard to come by at times, so the focus of this article is to offer a few ideas to budding green entrepreneurs. My last post about SPIN farming got me thinking about what people can do on a smaller scale to make extra income.

Clothing made from organic material is becoming very popular. I often visit local farmers’ markets in my city, and the amount of booths dedicated to selling clothes made from environmentally friendly materials has at least doubled in the past year, in my estimation. One such business that I stumbled across at a farmers’ market is Monkey 100. Their t-shirts are made from 70% bamboo and from 30% cotton. All of the t-shirts come with an environmentally conscious message. Environmentally friendly gift-baskets are also exploding. Fill them with organic and ethical facial creams, soaps made from goat’s milk, or flowers and organic fruits – just use your imagination. After coming up with the perfect idea for a small green business it could be challenging to find a place where to sell. The key is a farmers’ market.

Farmers’ Markets

I am truly shocked how farmers’ markets are booming in my area. I hope they are growing in all areas of your city too because they do offer a wonderful opportunity to sell many things that can be made at home. If your city doesn’t have a farmers’ market, maybe that is an opportunity in and of itself – start a farmers’ market. My local farmers’ market operates from a community center parking lot. If you decide to try to sell your wares at a farmers’ market what should you sell? You could become a prepared food vendor. Use organic and ethically produced ingredients to create hearty and nutritious food. You could sell preserves, such as peaches. The vendor that sells his own jams and jellies always has a line-up in front of his tent. There is an amazing woman who sells pies. I have seen massage booths set up at farmers’ markets too. A 10 minute massage for $10 is what they charge in my neighborhood. One station is dedicated to fixing bicycles. That vendor has a steady stream of customers, as many people arrive by bicycle, and require of a quick tune-up for that eco-friendly mode of transportation. The bicycle specialist fulfills a very important and in-demand service. Coffee and tea vendors provide a cup of joe or two for people in need of a pick me up while they shop and browse in the markets.

I guess my point here is that large, urban centers are the growth areas for farmers’ markets. Just by simple observation, one can see that people are willing to pay a little more for some organic tomatoes grown in and around their neighborhood. Just a quick note about the farmers’ markets that I attend, all of the sellers of the goods are also the producers. You get to meet that lady who baked that peach pie, or the man who has his own honey producing bees and sells the honey at farmers’ markets throughout my city. Start small with those crafts by selling them at farmers’ markets. At the very least you will meet some wonderful people with many of the same ideologies that you have.

I’d like to end this article with a question. If you were going to start green business, what would it be?

Green Building and LEED Certification

robertludvig — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 00:37:23 +0000

What does building green mean and why is it necessary? Greening a company encompasses many different aspects, not just recycling or stopping use of toxic materials and replacing it with something more environmentally friendly. Turning your company green includes green building practices. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, more commonly known as LEED, is at the top in terms of certification of green building construction practices. Follow their guidelines, study their material and join others in building for a green and better tomorrow. The U.S. Green Building Council offers a third-party certification program. If interested, you can find out about the specifics of the LEED rating systems for new construction, schools, homes and retail designs.

Founding Father

Rob Watson is the founder of LEED and because of this he is generally regarded as one of the founders of green building practices. His passion for green construction and green building practices cannot be understated. Offering rational arguments and a refreshing point of view supporting green building and construction, Mr.Watson is at the cutting edge of green business and the structures that house these increasingly powerful companies. He offers a bottom-up approach to business and the environmental responsibility that everyone shares. It is with his forethought, insight and imagination that has brought LEED front and center in green building. This is more than a movement, but a fundamental change in the way businesses look at buildings not only as a means to house products and workers, but a way to harmoniously co-exist with the environment. Hats off to Rob Watson for over 15 years of dedication and teaching the world how to build green.

Sustainable Business Resource

robertludvig — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:48:47 +0000

A wonderful place to start if you want to learn and expand your knowledge of green and sustainable businesses is Wikipedia. The user moderated website offers a number of important websites on the topic.

Green Business: Green Construction Practices

robertludvig — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 05:12:11 +0000

The builder in the accompanying video follows Leed certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). Some very important information about green building practices can be found at the U.S. Green Building Council website.

The following are four points that Rex the builder says are key factors in building green.

1-Recycling of waste materials.

2-Erosion protection around the job site.

3-Choice of materials.

4-Where materials are purchased.