- Encourage businesses to “Go Green”
- Banish bottled water
- Great American Clean-Up
Top of the morning to you! Celebrating St. Pattie’s Day this month makes us all a bit green. Let’s look at some new ideas to make this green month greener.
Encourage businesses to “Go Green” – Seems like everywhere you turn these days green is in. Many businesses are starting to realize the enormous marketing potential of turning green initiatives into green dollars. It makes good business sense to do what’s right for the environment and, therefore, for the customers who live in the communities where your products are manufactured, bought and/or sold. Savvy business owners can capitalize on this emerging trend by being part of the solution to environmental problems plaguing the planet. Even small measures like committing to purchase recycled products or setting up a recycle program in your office can be helpful. Local businesses can pledge to adopt a school to donate all their used ink cartridges to (currently only 27% are recycled in the US with millions sent to landfills every year) that can then be used for fundraisers. Looking toward the future may mean building energy efficient buildings and finding ways to use less water and chemicals in manufacturing. Large corporations can buy carbon offsets to reduce their carbon footprints. Even knowing where raw products are purchased from can be impactful – many large corporations have pledged not to buy hardwoods from endangered rain forests strictly because of public outcry. As consumers we can use our voices to ask companies about their “green plans” (commonly called “Corporate sustainability programs”) and encourage those that don’t have one to get one. Remember ultimately, we wield a mighty sword to make changes happen with the power to choose where we spend our money!
Banish bottled water – Plastic water bottles are contributing to global warming and taking up precious landfill space. It takes over 47 million gallons of oil to produce plastic water bottles for Americans every year. By eliminating those bottles we could take 1 billion pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere every year. That would be like taking 100,000 cars off the road annually! In most cases, bottled water is actually less safe than tap water. Corporate marketing has led us to believe that bottled is better, but the fact is bottled water is less regulated than tap water, meaning that tap water is often safer and less expensive. Next time, save yourself a buck and carry your own re-useable bottle filled from the tap. You can always buy a home filtration unit to make your water safer (check out Nikken.com for a personal sized reusable bottle with a built in filtration unit). Let’s put our efforts into protecting our drinking water from pollutants and practicing conservation to assure that we all have safe and plentiful water to drink for many generations to come.
Great American Clean-Up - The Great American Cleanup is coming. Join in March 1st – May 31st, as the annual, nationwide, community improvement campaign started by Keep America Beautiful in 1999, gets going once again. Last year an estimated 2.8 million volunteers donated more than 7.7 million hours to clean, beautify and improve more than 17,000 communities during more than 30,000 events across the United States.
Locally, Keep Cobb Beautiful (KCB) is challenging Cobb County Schools to get involved. Plan a cleanup, recycling event or beautification project and let KCB give you your supplies. Register your school and they could receive a cash prize to continue your environmental programs! Last years winning schools were Lewis and Shallowford Falls Elementary, Dickerson Middle and Harrison High Schools. Registration forms for participation must be emailed, faxed or postmarked by Friday, March 28, 2008, with events to be completed and reports filed by noon, Friday, May 2, 2008. Home Owner Associations, neighborhoods, scout troops, churches, civic clubs, and businesses can participate as well. If you have a scheduled cleanup during the months of March, April or May, KCB will be happy to supply garbage bags, gloves, litter bags for cars, certificates, posters, stickers and activity sheets for the children. Call (770) 528-1135 for more information. Participation and Cleanup Report forms for all events are available on the Keep Cobb Beautiful website.
Join the Kennesaw Environmental Committee or just volunteer for an event. Meetings are the fourth Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m. in the City Hall conference room. The public is welcome.
Yours in sustainability,
Lisa
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