The Green Rush of the Twenty First Century

- By Rich Lancaster

The Green Rush is on! It’s a bit like the Gold Rush of 1849, but no one is going to get rich from this rush – we’re all rushing to try and reverse what appears to be some considerable damage our way of life has done to planet earth in the past 100 years or so.

In the Green Rush companies are now scrambling to adopt basic environmental standards and to mitigate for their environmental footprint. This is a worthy goal, but only part of what needs to be done in order to make a real difference.

In order to more fully respond to the magnitude of the planetary changes we are facing it is imperative that companies consider doing some or all of the following.

• Become Carbon Neutral, this is the process of understanding as a business how much carbon dioxide you are generating – and then mitigating for it (the Kyoto Treaty is based on this issue). Here in America we have not been very well educated on this subject, whereas the rest of the developed world has already jumped in to this program. There are a few resources to use on the Internet that can help you understand this, my company is currently working with Carbon Fund (www.carbonfund.org) to reach our goal.


• Convert to Green Power. Puget Sound Energy, our provider, has a great program that helps us contribute to a greener future through investing in green power alternatives. We are on their Leadership Partner Program, which is one of the top 10 programs in the country (www.pse.com). Also with PSE we are converting to energy efficient lighting throughout our plant, and then will be installing occupancy sensors and lighting controls – all of this activity is rebated by PSE for a substantial discount in making the conversion.


• Join the EnviroStars program and reduce your hazardous waste output while you recycle all you can as a business (www.envirostars.org). EnviroStars is a leader in the United States and was recently praised by the EPA as an outstanding local program. If you are in a business that produces any hazardous waste this could be a program for you. Work your way to 5 Star status with EnviroStars – that will truly demonstrate your companies commitment to the environment because it will take you at least 5 years of hard work to get there, and includes annual audits by King County Hazardous Waste consultants.


• Recycle everything you can. We recycle all paper products – running at about 30-40 tons a month – as well as aluminum, solvents from our presses, spent light bulbs and even dirty rags. I’m sure I’m forgetting a few things. Each business is different but the opportunity is there for you to really make a difference when you focus on real issues.

While the above is not an exhaustive list it does represent a great start in terms of understanding just how to mitigate for your environmental footprint. At the end of the day the best ways to do the least environmental damage are to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle - - if we all do that together we can make this new Green Rush a giant success.