Lite Green Living » Green Workplace http://www.litegreenliving.com Supporting, Advocating and Educating about Green Living and Natural Family Living Wed, 15 Sep 2010 18:11:10 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Job Openings: Chief Green Officers and Directors of Sustainability http://www.litegreenliving.com/enter-the-chief-green-officers-and-directors-of-sustainability http://www.litegreenliving.com/enter-the-chief-green-officers-and-directors-of-sustainability#comments Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:27:00 +0000 Sammy http://www.litegreenliving.com/enter-the-chief-green-officers-and-directors-of-sustainability Yep, you read that right… Chief Green Officers or CGO’s, are real job positions at companies both large and small, companies just like Frito-Lay and Google. When the internet came mainstream it created Chief Information Officers, so it’s no surprise that the Green Movement has brought with it green executives and company officers.

“Chief Green Officers are Sprouting Up“, an article from the Dallas News sums it up quite well..

Sustain ability officers – also known as chief green officers or by similar titles – at senior or middle management levels are becoming popular as more companies in Dallas and across the country paint themselves green. Google has a chief sustainability officer. So does Georgia-Pacific.

Many think the green buzz is not a fad and is here to stay. In addition to addressing environmental concerns, companies are going green to enhance their public image, gain an edge over rivals and cut costs as energy prices rise.

Yes, in that last paragraph they state companies going green as a business edge… which many companies do. We believe that the “Green Movement” is not a fad and that many companies both large and small are taking “green” very seriously.

]]> http://www.litegreenliving.com/enter-the-chief-green-officers-and-directors-of-sustainability/feed 0 Should Green Business Certification Be Industry Standard? http://www.litegreenliving.com/certified-green http://www.litegreenliving.com/certified-green#comments Sat, 21 Jun 2008 21:31:31 +0000 Sammy http://www.litegreenliving.com/certified-green Unfortunately there are a lot of businesses out there claiming to be green when they really aren’t. As eco conscious consumers, we need to make sure that the products and services we buy really are eco friendly.

In my opinion, it should be industry standard that in order for any business to call themselves or label their products as “green,” they should have to go through a certification process. Companies who label their products “organic” are required to contain a certain percentage of certified organic ingredients… so it makes sense that it should be the same for a green business proclamation.

There are companies out there who will give you an actual certificate for a price as long as you meet their standards of being green.

In most cases, to be Certified Green, a business must be compliant with all applicable environmental regulations as well as meet certain standards in the following categories.

- conserving resources
- pollution prevention
- waste reduction

For now we have to do our own homework to weed out bad seeds… the companies who only use “green” as a marketing tool when they really aren’t green at all.

We don’t want to rain on your parade but most of the big label organic products on store shelves are owned by the large manufactures who produce pesticide laden food products, etc. Find out what companies other like-minded people are avoiding or how they feel about the big label producers of organic products.

The bottom line is to eat and buy locally produced items. Not everyone has local products available to them so you may not have this option…do the best you can and make informed choices. Eco buyers beware of companies proclaiming to be “green” just to get your green.

What companies have you come across that proclaimed to be green but were the furthest thing from it?

]]> http://www.litegreenliving.com/certified-green/feed 3