Going Green, Growing to a Fad

“Going green” seems to be the cool thing to do these days. With all the talk of climate change and fear of environmental damage to the planet, people are panicking and doing all they can to be environmentally friendly through a variety of means. Driving hybrids, using energy efficient appliances, and recycling are some of the big ways, and it’s starting to catch on, almost to the point of it being like a fad.

Of course like many fads, there are the dreaded “posers,” people who dress or act a way to look cool or to fit in. It’s now cool and trendy to wear the “I (heart) Planet Earth” or “Save the Polar Bears” shirts. It shows that you care and you want to be a part of something, who doesn’t? However there are many who sport the gear simply to look trendy, and as people begin to act this way, so of course will corporate America.

Recently a term has been coined, “greenwashing.” What that means is companies claiming to be green or eco-friendly really don’t do much that is overly different than someone who isn’t. For example, plenty of people can put the phrase “biodegradable” on a product when in reality it can go to a landfill and sit there forever. One example is when the FTC had to tell 78 different retail stores to stop advertising products as bamboo. Bamboo which is supposed to be environmentally friendly, is a popular choice for those trying to be green, however many stores would put the description on items that simply looked like bamboo when in reality they were textiles.

A lot of people are a bit extreme in their definitions of what going green really is, such as only using sustainable energy, but many people and companies can’t afford such tasks. So instead, why not just compromise and simply be more efficient?

Simple things like using efficient light bulbs can cut down on energy costs and energy consumption, which may not be considered by some enviro-extremists to be green, is still an upgrade, both to the planet and your wallet. Other options include reducing paper use. This can be done in a number of ways such as using document management software. What this does is digitalize your information, making paper use and storage far less necessary. More than that, document software makes it easier to retrieve information for future use.

Whatever changes you make, although they may not be considered “green” by everyone, it shouldn’t matter what they think, you’re going out of your way to change how you operate, and for that, you should be proud.

Andrew Sale is an expert writer on phone systems, based in San Diego, California. He writes extensively for an online resource that provides expert advice on purchasing and outsourcing decisions for small business owners and entrepreneurs such as VoIP service at Resource Nation.