Green your routine! small changes = Big Results
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! It’s a wonderful day to be green. I was speaking with a client Monday and they were telling me what constituted being “green” in their industry. I found it immensely interesting – partly because I started my career as an environmental engineer before it was “cool” and before most folks really understood what I did for a living – and party because what I was hearing sounded like good business sense.
Educated environmentalism is an incredible thing. I’m very pleased to see that folks are concerned about our environment – have you ever visited the landfill? If you haven’t, you should – it’s an eye-opening experience. I’ve also visited hazardous waste landfills and hazardous waste incinerators – actually much neater than standard landfills because of the care that is put into monitoring those buried wastes.
On this green St. Pat’s, please review your habits. Buy larger concentrates and take the time to dilute them for use instead of buying lots of smaller bottles. Our environment is impacted by both the bottle’s manufacture and the bottle’s ultimate disposal – even recycling produces waste products. The same goes for bottled water – filter your own whenever possible!
A few simple steps everyone can try (things you probably heard from your mom anyway):
- turn off the light when you leave the room
- turn off the water when you brush your teeth (do you seriously need it running the whole time?)
- turn off the TV or radio when you’ve not watching or listening
- filter your own water
- buy concentrated cleaners
- recycle what you can – newspapers, soda cans, plastic bottles
- wash full loads and if your washer doesn’t sense load size, choose the right size for your load
- plan your errands and save gasoline (saving gas = less pollution and more $$)
Be a little green today. Every little bit does help and small changes add up to big results!
Sunday is usually family day and planning day. I find that I can relax the most on Sunday, and many times Sunday is when I have my best thoughts and ideas. I push less on Sunday than I do on other days of the week. I plan more on Sunday. I’ve heard over and over that the most successful business people take time every day to plan for the following day. I’m not quite that disciplined, but I take time every Sunday to reflect and plan for the upcoming week. Generally, I take time to be thankful on Sunday.
