Forty Shades of Green: Environmentally Conscious Business
Just about every business that has a public presence has to address the issue of environmental impact in some way. There are quite a few approaches to putting on a green face. One of the most popular among large corporations is the grand gesture. Plant a Million Trees or put a solar panel on the roof of your corporate headquarters and then get back to business as usual. Many CEO’s probably think it is up to the government to regulate environmental standards and that taking intiative on your own is bad for short term profits.
Some businesses choose to go green as a way to differentiate themselves from the competition. I recently read a page from a yogurt company’s website explaining that they had to switch to a different container because the found out that their recyclable cups were being diverted to a landfill because the plastic recycler didn’t want to deal with them.
We hear about multinational companies moving production from the US to third world countries. Labour costs are the major issue, but I can only assume that lax environmental standards are sometimes a draw as well.
