We’re about to get started with our environmental impact report. This is an important aspect of our business because we pride ourselves on our responsible practices but we pride ourselves even more on knowing how much of an impact we make, how well our efforts are working to minimize that impact, and what we can do to further help us reduce it.  It’s a great feeling to know you are making a difference and have the documentation to prove it.

The only problem is that though we are ready for to get down to business, we are just going to have to wait until the nice girl who does all this for us is on vacation in Thailand. The waiting isn’t the problem, it is the extreme jealousy that she is in Tropical paradise while we are trapped here in our urban nightmare.

You too can utilize this simple but effective tool to help your business stay in the green.  The most affordable way is to go down to your local university and recruit a competent student to evaluate your small business.

Beware of using a student however, as you do get what you pay for.  With a little care taken in the selection though, you will get a good report and a huge advantage against the difficulties of running a green business.

Yeah, you read right.  I have three boxes on my desk.

I keep the usual In box (aka: I’ll-just-ignore-this-for-right-now-and-watch-cartoons-on-tv box) and Out box (aka: I’m-so-happy-this-is-done-so-I-can-watch-cartoons-on-tv box) but alongside those two I make sure to keep a box full of scratch paper.  I never print on this paper but throughout the day I find myself needing blank paper to write contact information on, dimensions, and take-out orders and rather than grab a fresh piece of paper out of the carton below the printer I make sure to reach for the scratch paper and after I’ve used it for the day if it isn’t filled to capacity with doodles and my own sophomoric musings then I put it back in the box.

I am considering another box for my desk to put the used scratch paper in and sealing it in a time capsule so that two thousand years from now when California has been converted to a desert wasteland or an inland sea by global warming archaeologists will discover it and I will finally be famous.

Here is a really easy step to help you green your business up.  This one goes out to the retailers.

Post consumer bags: Next time you order more bags of any type, just get on the computer and Google “post consumer bags” and chances are that in five minutes you will have found a source for bags that should be only slightly more costly then your average but made of recycled material and extremely beneficial.  Make sure to have a nice little tag there so people know it is post consumer material; it makes your business look good and spreads the idea of using recycled products.

Always go paper: We here The Green Business Blog understand how much more a green alternative can cost and that sometimes it just isn’t viable to pursue the green alternative.  Well, when you have to choose between two worse choices try to pick the lesser evil.  It is great to use recycled products but not always practical.  Remember though that paper is the better choice: it is less toxic as it is being manufactured; trees, unlike petroleum, are renewable; and paper is also bio-degradable, or at least far more so than plastic.

This blog is The Green Business Blog.  This blog is all about how to start your own green business.  Right now our great little blog is in its infancy and hopefully we have readers already.  Right now it is time to clear up a big misconception.  Green alternatives are not a panacea.  We’re not fooling anyone; I will make a money bet that your business is not environmentally friendly.  It is just the way things are for all of us nowadays.  We have built up our whole society here in the USA based on products and ideologies that are terrible for our environment.

Here is the good news: We have the power to make our impact on the environment a lot smaller.

Going green isn’t going to make the world a perfect place but as business owners we can use green alternatives to do what we can to keep our world healthy.  Be proud of your efforts, there are few of us in this world of business who are willing to make our planet a priority.

Today I am writing about a controversial topic, especially for those of us who are finance and business minded.  There is currently a proposed plan by the TCA to build a toll road through south Orange County.  Never mind the various arguements between the two sides, the fact of the matter is that the proposed toll road will be built right on top of some of the County’s last remaining wetlands.  This important watershed is the most pristine out of all of Orange County’s wetlands and has been reserved as a state park for public use and it’s protection.  This fight has many different front but the most important by far is that the tollroad will destroy the wetlands it goes through.  Only 5% of California’s coastal wetlands remain undeveloped.  Wetlands are a huge store of biodiversity and provide pollution control as well as a unique environment for hundreds of thousands of species of plants and animals.

If you do not donate to this cause at least inform yourself on it here at www.savetrestles.com

We’re going to have our first conference call today.

There are four of us here and we are all situated a decent distance from each other so to meet at any given location it takes a fair amount of gas. In order to save money, natural resources, and carbon output we have decided that a good alternative is for us to tele-conference. The internet is so cool. Because of the internet you no longer need any sort of fancy equipment to have a conference room–and we have skipped the huge mahogany conference table for now as well–but can simply log onto Skype.com and plug a headset into your computer. Through this headset you can conference call until your face turns blue. We are set to try our first conference call this afternoon; look for a new post later this week on how it went.

So for our first tip here on The Green Business Blog we will give you a great little tip.  The common misconception is that “green” alternatives are more expensive then your normal practices.  Well, here’s a great tip to help you save both trees and money.

Re-use your paper — Do you realize that a piece of paper has two sides?  I used to forget it all the time and would just throw paper out if it were printed on.  Well now instead I just turn the paper over and throw it right back in the printer tray.  The majority of my printing is for my own and since I don’t mind having a little printing on the opposite side I typically just keep my printer tray stocked with used paper and have a reem of fresh paper sitting to the side for when I am printing for clients.  You will use a lot less paper this way and will save your business both money and trees.

Do you know your daily carbon output?

Chances are you are just as in the dark as to your carbon output, both as a person and as a business, as I was just a couple of days ago. Well chances are, if you live in a suburban environment like me and you aren’t within walking distance to very many locations, you have a fairly decent carbon footprint. No need to let your conscience weigh on you though, now you can help compensate a little for that carbon output. Through websites like www.carbonfund.com you can calculate your carbon output and buy the oh-so-cliche-but-environmentally-responsible-so-it’s-still-all-good “carbon credits”. Money spent on these carbon credits will be donated to carbon-reducing projects in order to help offset your output.

Programs like these are great because it allows you, with minimal time spent researching, to offer a cause specific donation that actually goes to help offset your effect on the environment. You might still be a (smaller) part of the problem but you’re now also a part of the solution.