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Zusatztext “This is essential reading for any business leader—and anyone who wants to become one.” —Joel Makower! Executive Editor! GreenBiz.com! and author of Strategies for the Green Economy “A GPS for steering your business in a green and profitable direction way ahead of the curve with insight! innovation! integrity! and passion.” —Paulette Mae Cole! CEO and Creative Director! ABC Carpet and Home “This book makes the path to sustainability feel truly achievable.” —Eileen Fisher! Chief Creative Officer! Eileen Fisher! Inc. “No one has tried harder to quantify ‘good beyond profit.’” —John Stossel! Fox news correspondent “Provides an essential outline and all the creative new ideas to make any business greener.” —Denise Hamler! Director! Green Business Network of Green America Informationen zum Autor David Mager and Joe Sibilia Klappentext Street Smart Sustainability is designed to be a road map to the sustainable low-hanging fruit at a time when the public is hungry for businesses that demonstrate genuine respect for the environment. Individual chapters are designed to act as standalone sets of action steps on particular topics. For example, one chapter will discuss the physical facilities while another challenges the traditional concept of the supply chain. The book includes a chapter on management techniques and one that provides a system of metrics to measure the organization's progress toward sustainability. If you read only the chapter on physical facilities, you'll be equipped to put into effect those recommendations, while preparing for another initiative in another chapter. Most small and medium-sized businesses spend their time operating without the luxury of management depth and outside advisors. They need to operate their businesses while making progressive changes over a period of time. Read the chapter on purchasing, and you may implement those recommendations while managing your enterprise in a day-to-day manner. Do everything in all the chapters, and your organization will become much more sustainable. The book will also include tools that will measure progress and savings. Leseprobe Introduction This book is for leaders of small and medium-sized organizations who want to take the steps necessary to achieve environmental sustainability in a practical and cost-effective manner. No business on the planet meets all the criteria of a fully sustainable enterprise. The fundamental challenge for any small to medium-sized organization is determining how much time and money to take away from day-to-day operations and invest in becoming sustainable. But, as you will see from the many examples offered, it makes business and environmental sense to implement as many of the recommendations found in this book as possible—even in challenging economic times. It has taken forty years since the first Earth Day for sustainability to become an “overnight success.” Today, after years of scientific evidence, protest marches, consumer boycotts, growing public demand, successful lawsuits by public interest and environmental groups, increased shareholder value to companies that embrace sustainability, and environmental causes championed by celebrities and thought leaders, the idea of sustainability in business is almost universally accepted. Recent polls show that 80 percent of the American people are motivated by environmental issues1 and 95 percent of shoppers are open to green products.2 The Era of Sustainability has arrived. Centuries of spending the earth’s capital as if it were in endless supply and exploiting the environment as if it were one’s private profit center have given way to enrolling all stakeholders in environmental decision making. Combining this with the evolution of environmental technology, we are approaching the p...
