<p>I'm going to make this short:&nbsp; If you want to have people trust your capacity to help them (I loathe this phrase) "go green", you best be working on yourself for years beforehand, or spell out what you are doing in realtime on your company blog.&nbsp; We have all got to quit giving naysayers and green-scoffers fuel for their "hypocrite!" fires.</p> <p>I'm going to get right down to a few businesses in particular that need to seriously search their souls on this one.&nbsp;</p> <p>First: My own field of home performance and residential energy efficiency.&nbsp; I you have the nerve to show up at the Seattle Green Festival as a newly minted supposedly green contractor, I want to see pictures of your own house.&nbsp; i want to see your own hand in the photo holding the caulking gun.&nbsp; You'll get a referral if I see your own sweat going into your own house to make it as sustainable as possible.&nbsp; I spent 3 years on my house, and I've got a long way to go, so I have been showing people what I have already done, but focused on what I am currently doing and what I plan to do very soon to airseal, insulate, and reduce energy loads.</p> <p>Second: Real Estate Agents.&nbsp; If you don't actually own your own home, I'll forgive just a bit here, but if you didn't do the maximum work possible to reduce energy losses in your own home before telling a potential customer about a house, then something has gone dreadfully wrong.&nbsp; Eco-Broker Certification should come only when you have pledged to do the hardest work yourself:&nbsp; Either by choosing a Built Green home to buy and live in, or making the current home you're in as efficient as possible.</p> <p>Third: Sustainable Business Consultants.&nbsp; I know it's hard to do even more than you suggest others do, but this is your particular job.&nbsp; If how you get paid is by the advice you give to others, then you better have taken that advice in buckets.&nbsp; How do you arrive at a client's site?&nbsp; By yourself in your 6 cylinder truck, or did you leave enough time to take the bus, bike, or walk?&nbsp; Could you perform your work over Skype or by phone?&nbsp; Have you made sure that the work you suggest isn't just buying green things, but actually NOT producing waste?&nbsp; If you are putting on a meeting, did you make it easy to get to?&nbsp; If you are "working remotely" is it at a Fair Trade Coffee shop, or just wherever you have free wi-fi?&nbsp;</p> <p>These are some tough questions for people in a field that gets a lot of guff already, and probably don't want to hear it from their own.&nbsp; But this is exactly what what we all need to hear, then ACT on.&nbsp; Even if you're business isn't specifically in the sustainability field, this is strong medicine indeed. While I am at it, if you even debated voting for Obama (or obviously for Nader or Kucinich), you should be working your butt off to do much more than the minimum to make sure this green economy thing is not empty rhetoric by doing some of the heavy lifting yourself.</p> <p>On a positive note, the benefits of walking your green talk are outstanding, and are directly applicable to your bottom line.&nbsp;</p> <p>You already know that CFLs save the planet with up to 75% less energy used per lumen, but did you know that practicing what you preach also makes you more productive?&nbsp; It's true.&nbsp; Ask someone who installed a solar hot water heater on their home how they feel, and they'll tell you they are happier because of it.&nbsp; This makes them more likely to continue taking action, and continue saving.&nbsp; Same goes for businesses who embark on aggressive&nbsp; green up programs (especially if the employees are directly involved in choosing and planning the work).&nbsp; Going green makes people take pride in the work they do, and that increases productivity directly, reduces absenteeism, and creates a positive cycle of further efficiency.&nbsp; This triple-bottom-line approach applies even more directly to ostensibly green businesses.&nbsp; When you walk your talk and everyone knows it, then everyone else will know it too.&nbsp; So get out there and feel good about what you do, especially if it's the same thing you're telling others to.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> 2009-04-07T15:00:14Z -9.4114 151 4048 true 1 22974 the-hardest-work-in-sustainable-business 3 2009-04-08T14:00:05Z 2009-04-08T05:33:29Z

The hardest work that a 'green' business entrepreneur will end up doing is walking their own talk. We've all got some serious soul searching to do when it comes to doing what we tell others to do...

1 2009-04-08T05:33:29Z