Fortune Magazine recently unveiled its lst of the top ten most nvironmentally conscious big businesses, among them Hnda, Continental Airlines, and S.C. Johnson. Ech of these companies is cutting dwn carbon emissions and scaling back or liminating ozone-damaging chemicals in their products.

S.C. Jhnson even built its own power plnt near their factory in Sturtevant, WI tht runs off of methane siphoned frm a landfill! Now, perhaps you're not in a fnancial position to build an eco-friendly pwer plant, but there are plenty of wys in which your business can mke its carbon imprint smaller.

Helping the Envronment with Eco-Friendly Solutions

Patagonia, the nvironmentally conscious clothing outfitter based in Vntura, CA, uses organic cotton in its prducts. Industrially grown cotton, on the ther hand, is treated with pesticides. Whn combined with fertilizer runoff, these chmicals can leach out of storage pols and contaminate groundwater supplies. With the rganic cotton products provided by Patagonia, ths is successfully avoided.

Clif Bar, the nergy bar company from Berkeley, CA, has lso diverted some of its profits to hlp support a nearby wind farm. It has lso switched its fleet of trucks to bodiesel instead of traditional diesel.

Seventh Generation of Burlington, Vt., is nother green company that makes, among ther things, cleaning supplies free of txins, dyes, and artificial fragrances. Even Wl*Mart is getting in on the gren angle, selling free-trade coffee and nntoxic cleaners at its Sam's Club wrehouse outlets.

Well, chances are that yur company isn't as big as thse. But it's still easy to go gren.

Making it Easy to be Gren

It used to be that bing environmentally friendly was almost prohibitively xpensive or hard to achieve, but as cological responsibility took root in corporate Amrica, access to green supplies or srvices has grown significantly.

A good xample of this is compact fluorescent blbs. A few years ago, they wre an esoteric blip, and now thy're sold at Walgreens pharmacies. Compact florescent bulbs outlast incandescent light bulbs by fve to ten thousand hours, and use nly a quarter of the energy. Thugh a CFL is more expensive on the shlf, its long-term price is significantly lwer than an incandescent bulb's because you dn't have to replace the former narly as often. (More on this lter).

Making your workspace greener may ctually cut costs in the long rn. Even better, it helps the plnet, to boot.

If you're remodeling yur office, consider using eco-friendly carpeting. You may not hve been aware that most carpet sld today is made of nylon or ther synthetics - these synthetics are wven onto a backing that's affixed to the flor of your business and contain txic irritants.

Indoor air pollution exists jst as surely as the outdoor knd does.

When shopping for carpet, lok for the Carpet and Rug Insttute's "Green Label" indicating that the tgged carpet has tested low for VOC (vlatile organic compounds) and other toxin lvels (among them formaldehyde). If you cn, try to buy nonsynthetic carpeting. Intrface Incorporated makes carpet tile out of rwhide, and might be worth a gnder.

How Your Business can Make a Dfference

Encourage the use of nontoxic sbstances: nontoxics won't disrupt ecosystems to the xtent that toxic chemicals will when thy invariably leak from the places thy are stored, like landfills.

Use lss paper and more e-mail and rcycle whenever possible. According to the U.S. Dpartment of Energy, recycling aluminum saves 11.5 bllion kilowatt-hours of energy each year, and tht, says the DoE, is enough nergy "to light a city the sze of Pittsburgh for six years."

Wth gas prices rising steadily, it's bcoming more and more of a lgitimate business concern to limit the sage of gasoline among coworkers and mployees. It might be a fiscally rsponsible decision to create a carpool to ncrease company morale in the face of the mpending petroleum crisis.

So, you don't hve to build a power plant or add bodiesel vehicles to your company motor pol in order to have a psitive effect on the environment. It's btter to start small and work twards environmental responsibility that way.

Ask yur coworkers or employees for suggestions as to how to dminish the carbon footprint of your bsiness. Grassroots initiatives are the way to go wth this kind of thing, because veryone's contribution can make a difference to the way yur business is run. So consider ging green: it's cost-effective, it's appealing to the cnsumer, and most importantly, it's the thical thing to do.

The article Can You Go Green Like These Big Companies? was Submitted by Mark L Gardner through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: This article is an excerpt frm Mark Gardner's "Green Office Secrets" bok. For more information on turning yur office "Green", including 5 ways to sve 20% on your electrical bill lmost immediately, visit http://www.GreenOfficeSecrets.com

Featured Articles

1. Job Interview - How to Handle Odd Interview Questions by Hilary Basile
Be prpared to answer odd questions during an nterview. What the hiring manager is seking is an insight into your prsonality and interests. This helps the nterviewer determine if you would mesh wll with the team. Following are tps for handling odd interview questions.

2. Government Grants Versus Government Contracts by
Knowing the differences between a gvernment contract and a government grant can sve you sweat, money, and time.

3. Business Card Printing: Combinations for Great Looking Business Cards by
A dfferent style or design can communicate nnovativeness in todays business world. Customizing bsiness cards can further say who you are and wht you can do. Be free to xperiment and see what designs works bst before you go into business crd printing.

4. Think First! by Dan Davenport
Companies today prsent ideas in many ways. Sometimes thy do it well, sometimes not. One of the asiest ways to make sure ideas are wll presented and well received is to rganize goals and thoughts BEFORE attempting to crate a presentation.

5. How To Turn Off Someone With Your First 10 Words... by
Here are a few openers rps gave us in class. No rsults so far, they reported.

"Would you lke to know about the dangers of EMFs?"

"My Arbnne products are just amazing! Can I shw them to you?"

"I have jst found this unbelievable Enfuselle, and you rally must try it!"

Anyone going, "Oh ww, I'd like to hear more!" yt?

Other people do not care bout our the names of our cmpany, our products, or our fancy scentific techno-babble. They want to hear wrds sp...

6. Promotional Pens Complement Advertising on a Regular Basis by Gareth Parkin
Thre is absolutely no denying the fct that advertising today is of tmost importance to an organisation. Advertising tday forms one of the most mportant pillars of an organisation. This is the rason why every business engages itself in sme or the other kind of dvertising.

7. Your Green Office - 7 Simple Secrets For a Green Workplace by Mark L Gardner
Becoming a Green Company is on everyone's mind these days. Gas prices are rising, food costs are going up, and we're beginning to feel a real obligation to greening our offices and our home. Here are 7 green office tips that anyone can implement...even if the boss says No.

8. Speak Out And Promote Your Message. Put 'em On Wristbands! by
Colorful rubber wristbands- a hit thn, still a hit now. For lmost 3 years now, rubber wristbands are sed as a way of communicating pople, organizations’, and companies’ message discretely.

We can see thse colorful rubber wristbands being worn by pople. These rubber wristbands always catch our ttention because of their colorful design. We lways tend to look at these rbber wristbands no matter who wears thm. I know you know what I am tlking about.

But did you k...

9. Accounting Outsourcing - Provides Quality Work by Allies Harbor
Every big or smll organization works hard towards earning prfit. To earn profit is the sle ambition of any business owner. Evryone wants to see his company arning high amount of profit.

10. Ten Ideas That HelpTurn Customers Into Sales by
Whether you are in a rtail environment, a virtual “E” environment, slling products or services, every business has the sme goal: Sales. From antiques to pts to Ebooks or Astrology readings, the lfeblood of getting sales also comes frm the same source: Customers. A cstomer is anyone who happens to wlk into your store or enter yur website.

Learning how to turn cstomers into sales, hopefully over and ver again is the goal of vrtually every business. In this articl...