Going Green

This past week UCLA Extension held its first-ever conference on sustainable business topics, which we called "The Business of Green: What's the Payoff?" As is usually the case with new course offerings, this one needs a bit of work -- particularly on the marketing side, as we fell short of the 300 or so participants we had wanted to get. As a proof of concept event, however, it was quite impressive, proving that not only does there exist a market for programming of this type, but also that there is support for sustainable business practices and education on how to be more environmentally responsible from the business community, local governments, and higher education in Southern California.

Of course, most people do not associate business and environmentally correct practice; the common belief is that most business people are concerned only with maximizing profit, at whatever cost to the environment. This leads to a rather childish popular image of environmentalists as long-haired hippies carrying signs and staging protests, and business people as buttoned-down conservatives with big cigars wearing three-piece suits who never look beyond the next quarter's balance sheet. The reality is that not only is conservation a very big business these days, but more and more companies are coming to realize that there is more money to be made in going green than there was going things the old way...

To take the obvious example, factories (and offices and even retail stores) that use less electricity are cheaper to operate; compact-fluorescent bulbs, better insulation and more efficient heating and cooling all drop straight to the bottom line. Simple measures like putting floor mats by the entrance to the building (which keeps people from tracking dirt all over the place, and lowers your maintenance costs) or adding water-conservation equipment to the restrooms (low-flow sinks and toilets, waterless urinals and the like) can generate huge savings in money not spent, as well as improving your relations with the community as an "environmentally sensitive" business.

Then there's the question of waste, in both senses of the word. Anything your company purchases and then throws away is a loss straight off the books; not only are you not getting anything for it, you're probably also spending money to have someone take it away. Waste paper, metal, glass and plastic can be sold for reclamation; organic wastes can be used for making compost (or sold to a company that does). One disposal company that presented at the conference was using discarded wood to run a power plant, yard waste (like lawn clippings and leaves) and household organic waste (food mostly) to make compost, and then gathering up all of the metal, plastic and glass for recycling. They make money on practically everything they haul away, and the beautiful part is that for the most part, people are paying THEM to do the hauling in the first place...

Now, I'm not going to tell you that every business out there can make use of every scrap of material it purchases, with zero waste of any kind. What I can tell you is that almost any kind of business operation can save money, improve community relations, and avoid long-term health risks and fines by shifting to a sustainable business model. And that doesn't even address the best reason for holding such a conference in the first place...