Going Green

Quote of the Month: “ Try to leave the earth a better place than when you arrived.” – Sidney Sheldon

Going green, or becoming more environmentally friendly, in your office doesn’t have to mean making extreme changes. Even small changes can have a great impact. Here are few ideas that can help your office go green and save you more money in the long run too.

One of the first steps you can take is to switch all of the office lights to LEDs. They may cost a little more up front, but they last forever and reduce your use of electricity. This means you’ll save money from not having to buy lights every year and your electricity bill will be reduced significantly as well.

Another small step, is keeping live plants in the office. It doesn’t have to be many, but a few plants can help offset VOCs and CO2 emissions. They can also help brighten up your office area and give it more of a homey feel. If your office has a kitchen, having a few herbs such as basil and rosemary can help to reduce any food odors, while also serving as a living spice rack for your lunch.

One way your office can also help the community to go green is to hold an electronics recycling day event. Invite people from your community to drop off their broken electronics and then have the county come and pick them up from your office. You many have to pay a small fee for this, but since you can also use this as a marketing and referral event, it’s worth it. You don’t have to limit this event to electronics, it could also be clothes or books.

Another way your office can be more environmentally friendly, is by asking your clients if you could send more correspondence via email. This could be newsletters, event information, changes in the market, etc. Most of your clients will say yes. Some clients are still “old fashion” and will request that they still receive paper versions of everything. The number of people who will still want paper will be few though. By taking this step you will reduce your office’s paper consumption a considerable amount.

Here is a sample of an email you can send to clients requesting that you would like to go more green:

Dear «firstname»,

We’re going GREEN!

Like many Americans, we’re concerned about conserving our natural resources and doing our part to lessen our “carbon footprint”. To that end, we’ve decided to “go green” in our offices and do what we can to reduce paperwork in favor of electronic communication.

Can you help us?

We’d like to send you statements, confirmations, reviews and more via email to reduce our paper usage. Not only is this good for the environment, it will allow us to communicate with you more quickly and (we hope) be more convenient for you.

If receiving these types of correspondence via the internet is okay with you, could you please share your email address(es) below, sign, and return back to us in the self-addressed stamped envelope we have included? As always, I am happy to answer any questions you may have. Please feel free to call me at «representativephone», or simply send an e-mail to «representativeemail».

Thank you, in advance! Sincerely,

XXXX

YES! I’d like to help conserve our natural resources. Please send me future correspondence via the email address(es) below …

PRIMARY EMAIL EMAIL TO “CC”

Signed:

Date:

Please print your full name: