The Greening of a Small Business

I have taken the following actions to green my business:

~ annually donate 3.5 percent of the net income from my business to the David Suzuki Foundation (www.davidsuzuki.org/). I have been making regular contributions to DFS since 2000.

~ carbon-offset 100 percent of my personal carbon load. I base this on the average 5 tonnes of GHGs it is estimated each Canadian produces annually. This year, I purchased Gold Standard offsets through the not-for-profit Canadian offset vendor Planetair (http://www.planetair.ca/). This is the same offset vendor used by the David Suzuki Foundation and is considered a national leader in the field. Planetair is managed by the Unisféra International Center, a non-profit Montreal research and consulting centre whose mission is to contribute to the advancement of sustainable development in Canada and around the world.

~ use a laptop computer (and have been since 1992), which uses less than half the energy of a desktop computer.

~ reuse paper whenever possible. When I do use new paper, it is Grays Harbor 100-percent post-consumer recycled paper, a local product. I have also made every effort to switch to a paperless system, emailing invoices and doing editing onscreen whenever possible.

~ installed compact fluorescent tubes in all lamps.

~ take public transit whenever possible. For example, on a recent business trip to Vancouver, I travelled via Pacific Coach Line and commuted daily from the westside of Vancouver to Burnaby by bus and SkyTrain. And enjoyed it thoroughly!

~ recycle home and office waste through our curbside recycling program as well as through alternate suppliers.

~ compost all kitchen waste and grow an organic vegetable garden.

If you have suggestions for other actions I can take, please email me.