Costco Connection - July 2008

So, you wanna go

How green do you want to be?

To help you decide what shade you want to be, ask yourself these 10 questions.

s 7HAT ARE MY REASONS FOR BECOMING GREEN s !RE THERE ANY MARKET FACTORS INVOLVED s (OW DOES BEING GREEN INTEGRATE WITH MY BUSINESS PLAN s (OW DOES BEING GREEN GIVE ME A COMPETITIVE EDGE s !M ) STARTING A NEW GREEN BUSINESS OR AM ) RUNNING AN EXISTING BUSINESS

THAT WANTS TO SLOWLY MOVE TOWARD BEING GREEN s $O ) WANT TO BE PERCENT GREEN OR ARE THERE AREAS IN WHICH ) WILL NOT BE GREEN s )N ANY AREA WHERE ) CANNOT GO GREEN HOW CAN ) OFFSET MY CONSUMPTION s $O ) WANT TO HAVE MY BUSINESS CERTIFIED AS BEING GREEN s !RE THERE ANY GREEN GROUPS IN MY AREA OR SHOULD ) START ONE s 7HEN CHOOSING TO PURCHASE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES HOW DO ) QUALIFY THEM AS GREEN

Information courtesy of StartUpNation ( www.startupnation.com)

Grays
Harbor Paper

Becoming a certified green business can involve: s #OMPLYING WITH ALL ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS s 0REVENTING POLLUTION s #ONSERVING ENERGY WATER AND OTHER NATURAL RESOURCES s 2EDUCING WASTE s #ONTROLLING CHEMICALS AND HAZARDOUS MATERIALS s 4RACKING RESOURCE USE s %DUCATING EMPLOYEES AND CUSTOMERS s )NTRODUCING GREEN PRACTICES TO OTHER BUSINESSES

Rather than run their boiler on natural gas or oil, Grays Harbor Paper ( www.ghplp.com), a Costco supplier, converted to biomass (wood waste that otherwise would be slash-burned or taken to landfill). Instead of buying electricity, they bought two turbine generators to make their own. Earlier this year they added a third with the goal of not only making their own energy but selling it, too. When the state of Washington approached the company about making post-consumer recycled paper, Grays Harbor developed their flagship product, a 100 percent post-consumer paper, of the same quality as virgin paper, called Harbor 100.

Books:

Go Green, Live Rich: 50 Simple Ways to Save the Earth (and Get Rich Trying), by David Bach and Hillary Rosner (Broadway Press, 2008)

Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage, by Daniel C. Esty and Andrew S. Winston (Yale University Press, 2006)

Stirring It Up: How to Make Money and Save the Planet, by Gary Hirshberg (Hyperion, 2008)

Glossary

2"/. #2%$) 4 4HE PROCESS OF REDUCING CARBON EMISSIONS BY hOFFSETTING v !N EXAMPLE IS TAKING A FLIGHT AND IN COMPENSATION PAYING A COMPANY to plant trees to balance the carbon use.

2"/. &//402). 4 MEASURE OF ONE S IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT IN TERMS OF THE AMOUNT OF GREENHOUSE GASES PRODUCED MEASURED IN UNITS OF CARBON DIOXIDE

CREATAS IMAGES/JUPI TER IMAGES

'2%%. (AVING POSITIVE ENVIRONMENTAL ATTRIBUTES OR OBJECTIVES

'2%%. 02/$5#4 "IODEGRADABLE OR COMPOSTABLE MADE FROM RENEWABLE RESOURCES ORGANICALLY GROWN

3534!).!"),) 49 0RACTICES THAT HELP TO ENSURE THE CONTINUED VIABILITY OF A PRODUCT OR PRACTICE WELL INTO THE FUTURE

Web sites:

www.apolloalliance.org www.carbonfund.org www.climatebiz.com www.coopamerica.org www.epa.gov www.greenbiz.ca.gov www.greenbiz.com www.greenbusinesstaskforce.com

www.greenproductlist.com www.grist.org www.livingeconomies.org www.nrdc.org/buildinggreen www.sustainablebusiness.com www.thepurplebook.com www.usgbc.org www.usgreencommerce.org