Today I had a bag of Sun Chips with lunch. On the new, redesigned label I saw that the Frito Lay company now boast that Sun Chips are now made, in part, with solar energy and the company also buys Green Energy to offset the 100% of the electricity required to make the chips. This is not an advertisement for Frito Lay, but you can read more here.
Small to medium nonprofits and small businesses both often have small, tight budgets. Much of the time, there just isn't the extra money to buy solar panels, batteries for storing electricity or anything like what big companies are able to afford. Add to that, the fact that some recycled products cost considerably more than other less environmentally friendly counterparts.
So --- is going green really worth the green? Well, perhaps so. Especially, if you are willing to make some tradeoffs and adjustments.
First, there are some easy ways to be friendlier to the environment. Using technology to communicate with stakeholders can be a big cost saver and be kinder to the earth all at the same time. Marketing e-mails, emailed newsletters, ezines and electronic distribution of other educational materials eliminates printing and direct mail costs--- which in the day of increased postage rates can add up to serious change.
Second, the tide is beginning to shift in consumers wanting to be patrons or donors to organizations who are making strides to go green. In many cases, people expect to have pay a little more to offset the cost of going green. The key here is "little". People are willing to be a little inconvenienced or to spend a small amount more.
Third-- there are a bunch of smart people out there who have some great ideas about going green. One such place is the Foundation Center. They are offering free classes at some of their regional offices to discuss innovative ways to begin going green. Earth Ministry is an organization focuses on helping Christians and Christian organizations to be better stewards of the Earth. Even if you are not a Christian the Earth Ministry's Blog has some good and quick ideas about making small changes toward going green.
Obviously, Frito Lay believes there is marketing and good will value in taking steps to go green. They have proudly changed packaging and created a website to get all the bang they can for their buck.
What do you think? What is your company or organization doing to be more environmentally friendly? How are you capitalizing on the good will value of your efforts?