Green Options

Like this post? Subscribe to our RSS feed and stay up to date.

Spring is upon us, and the redwood forest around my home has come to life. A friend told me recently that the lush clover-like ground cover that’s been popping up all spring in my yard is actually edible! It’s called Redwood Sorrel (Oxalis oregana), and its leaves have long been eaten by Native Americans on the Pacific coast. After a bit of research, I headed outside with a basket to collect some for our dinner salad.

Redwood Sorrel, not to be confused with the also edible garden sorrel, has a tangy, lemony flavor that is a great accent to salads. One thing to note, however, is that is should only be eaten in small quantities, because it contains oxalic acid that can disrupt digestion in large amounts. Since it’s a bit on the sour side, you probably won’t be tempted to overdo it anyway.

Before you can open your doors for business, you need an office. Stocking your office with needed supplies is a great opportunity to show your green side and make sustainable choices. From furnishings to paper clips, there are eco-friendly options out there for every office need.

Whether you’re working from home or from a downtown high-rise, you can conserve paper, reduce energy use, and produce less waste by keeping the environment in mind for all your office purchases. In this article, I’ll share ideas for stocking your green office and sources of green office products.

When I decided to start my own business, I knew that I wanted it to be green. Of course, my definition of green could be quite different from everyone else’s. There are varying shades of green, which makes it very difficult to quantify or define. Perhaps this is why there are so many different green certifications, seals, labels, and standards out there. With the dizzying array of options for green and sustainable certification available, it’s hard for a business owner to decide which certifier to use or if it’s even worth bothering at all.

Since I’m trying to start a graphic design studio, I started by searching for a green certification agency that specialized in creative services. It seems that many of the certifiers lack standards for service-based businesses, as most focus on products. The only design specific green “certification” that I found was the Design Can Change Pledge, a voluntary pledge for designers who commit to move towards sustainable practices. The site includes many ideas for going green as well as a great introduction to what sustainability in graphic design means, but doesn’t offer certification for green design businesses. As of yet, there’s no LEED for the graphic design industry.

The paperless office idea emerged along with the personal computer, its premise being that someday in the future, we will no longer need to use paper because everything will be in a digital format. While the truly paperless office may still be a myth and a seemingly impossible goal, it is still something we can move towards in our business operations. Paper and paperboard products constitute the largest portion of our waste stream, so reducing our paper use and recycling paper materials has a lot of potential to reduce the waste flowing into landfills and save trees at the same time.

While planning my business, I have been trying to find a few ways I can be a nearly paperless operation. I already send digital PDF files for invoices, agreements, and proofs rather than sending my clients paper documents. I use digital signatures for contracts, communicate via e-mail or phone, and avoid printing anything that I don’t absolutely need to. Still, my office is hardly paperless and there’s a lot more I plan to do as I formalize my practices and launch my business. Below are some suggestions for going paperless.

Starting a green business (or making an existing one greener) can often seem like a daunting task. As I start my own business, I am compiling a mental checklist of all small, simple things I can do in my day-to-day operations to lighten my footprint on the planet. By building environmentally conscious practices into my work flow from the start, I hope to start off on the right foot and keep taking steps toward sustainability.

There’s always more you can do, but the most important thing is to do something! Baby steps in the right direction are certainly better than going backwards or not moving at all. Thankfully, many green business practices are not only eco-friendly, but they’re friendly on the company budget as well. So even if the benefits to the planet are hard to see, benefits to your bottom line may be more visible.

Since I’m a habitual list-maker, here’s a handy list of ten simple things you can do to make your business a bit more sustainable every day.

They say that location is everything. Where your business is located can certainly have a big impact on your operations and your bottom line. It can also have a big impact on the planet.

Many small businesses are born in the most humble of beginnings: a small corner of a bedroom, the kitchen table of an apartment, maybe even a closet. Most expand to off-site offices as they grow, leaving behind the convenience of working from home for the increased visibility and professionalism of a “real office.” But for many types of businesses, having an off-site office is not at all necessary. Especially if much of the work revolves around a computer.

Part of planning a new business venture is figuring out how you will manage day-to-day operations and make decisions. One thing ecopreneurs like myself should consider when faced with a business decision is sustainability. And I don’t just mean the long-term viability of your business (although that’s an important consideration as well). I’m talking about the impact your business decisions will have on the environment.

It’s important for green businesses to be exactly that: green. This means you go the extra mile to examine the environmental consequences of every aspect of your business. That’s a lot of responsibility, so it requires careful consideration every step of the business planning process. Before you even open your doors for business, you should have a plan in place for running your business as sustainably as possible. Green businesses may even want to include a sustainable development section in their business plans.

One of the things I struggle the most with in getting my business started is what on earth to call it. The easiest way to name a new business is to use the owner’s name. Well, when your last name is practically unpronounceable, not to mention difficult to spell, that doesn’t seem like the best option.

As soon as I knew I wanted to own my own business, I started thinking of ideas for names. As I traveled for the last half of 2007, I took my business planning notebook along and brainstormed name ideas on long road trips. Now I have a few pages of ideas, and I’m as lost as ever. So I decided to seek out tips on naming a business, and although I haven’t made a final choice yet, I feel like I have a road map to guide my naming process.

How does a business go from an idea in your head to a functioning venture that runs smoothly and turns a profit? It helps to get your ideas on paper, and this is where a business plan comes in. A business plan is essential for materializing your business and getting on the road to success.

I’ll admit, I’m a bit intimidated by the thought of sitting down to write a 10-page document about my business dreams. Don’t even get me started on the thought of crunching numbers and making projections about profitability. For most right-brained creative types, the thought of writing a business plan, complete with all that financial analysis, is daunting. But it doesn’t have to be.

In life, as in business, it’s important to have role models. Having people to look up to and guide you along in your career is one key to success. Admiring other businesses can help you understand the market and your competition, and can give you ideas for your own business.

Now, since I need a little motivation and inspiration while starting my green design studio, I present a smattering of my business role models in the field of green graphic and web design.