HetzelMeade Communications got me started on this blog endeavour so I guess it is only fitting that my year ends with a great "small world" story involving Sue Hetzel.
Many months ago I talked to Sue about PR in San Diego - she is the best of the best and a wealth of information. Among a lot of ideas (and some margaritas), my green goddess blog was hatched as a vehicle that would help our company Contract Interiors San Diego expand our impact on the green furniture world. We have a ton of expertise on our staff yet there really is not an easy way to promote that unique quality.
So, on with the story....
I got an email from Sue last week about her experience at the new offices of FirstAgain in the Diamond View Tower in San Diego.
"Well, hope your ears were burning today. I was downtown visiting a new client in their posh new digs and commenting to the new VP of marketing about how hip and functional the place was. Being nosy, I asked who designed the space and supplied all the groovy work spaces, etc. So she found Betty Johnson who told me she used Contract Interiors and just loves, loves, loves everyone there including the boss lady. I replied that only AB and her crafty crew could crank out award-winning office space like the one they did for FirstAgain..... Guess it didn’t hurt the execs are all big Michigan fans (the CEO actually included his love for Michigan football in his intro to me)".
Well, the story had another edge to it that I particularly loved. FirstAgain deliberately made decisions about their offices and the design of the space keeping green practices in mind. It started with the demand for incredible views for everyone in the company, furniture that has Greenguard certification for healthier air to breathe and an overall approach that had its footings in take care of the whole team. I like the sign on their website that says they plant a tree with every loan. How great is that?
The small world of San Diego never ceases to amaze me. Have a great end to 2007, happy new year and may Michigan football recover from an awful season with a new coach in 2008.
The Green Goddess
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Green Art, Bags and Paper Too
I am looking at a party invitation sent to me from Art Basel in Miami from a couple of weeks ago. The invitation is for workshops featuring art made of re-cycled paper, step stones with re-cycled concrete, re-cycled fabric and art made of plastic bottles. All I could think about was how green everything has become.
I was out clothes shopping with my daughter last week at all of the tweenager spots; Tilly's, Hollister, American Outfitters to name a few. Sure I had to get over the extra loud dose of the Red Hot Chili Peppers music and overpowering perfume but once I did that, I made it through and even had a bit of fun. I don't like to shop at all and find all of it to be a big pain so this was quite an experience for me. As we made our way through the stores, we used our cool nylon reusable shopping bags from www.reuseablebags.com. Each and may I say every time we bought something and told the cashiers that we had our own bag, they all said how much they appreciated not killing another tree and thanked me, yes thanked me, for being green. The only similarity these store employees had in common was that they were all between 18-21. Is it a generational thing?
So my big dilemma this year is wrapping paper for gifts. How un-green to wrap it up, rip it off and throw it away. Yes, of course I save the bows and big pieces but come on, the paper is hard to reuse. So, what to do. I bundled gifts in the reuseablebags.com bags, I used the last of my stash of paper from years gone by and now I am using anything that can be folded and manipulated ( old Nordstrom bags, colored newspaper, cloth napkins etc. ). It challenges your creativity and makes for an interesting collage of presents.
Bringing green into your home this holiday season is now two-fold. Bring in the greenery and bring on the green movement!!
I was out clothes shopping with my daughter last week at all of the tweenager spots; Tilly's, Hollister, American Outfitters to name a few. Sure I had to get over the extra loud dose of the Red Hot Chili Peppers music and overpowering perfume but once I did that, I made it through and even had a bit of fun. I don't like to shop at all and find all of it to be a big pain so this was quite an experience for me. As we made our way through the stores, we used our cool nylon reusable shopping bags from www.reuseablebags.com. Each and may I say every time we bought something and told the cashiers that we had our own bag, they all said how much they appreciated not killing another tree and thanked me, yes thanked me, for being green. The only similarity these store employees had in common was that they were all between 18-21. Is it a generational thing?
So my big dilemma this year is wrapping paper for gifts. How un-green to wrap it up, rip it off and throw it away. Yes, of course I save the bows and big pieces but come on, the paper is hard to reuse. So, what to do. I bundled gifts in the reuseablebags.com bags, I used the last of my stash of paper from years gone by and now I am using anything that can be folded and manipulated ( old Nordstrom bags, colored newspaper, cloth napkins etc. ). It challenges your creativity and makes for an interesting collage of presents.
Bringing green into your home this holiday season is now two-fold. Bring in the greenery and bring on the green movement!!
Friday, December 7, 2007
Well written bids, from our perspective
As a furniture dealership, we receive many bids at our offices. They come in all sizes and shapes. Some are easier to respond to than others, from our perspective, and I wanted to share some best practices with this audience.
One recent bid was short, concise and filled with questions relevant to their needs. Instead of a normal section about gauge of steel and how many ball bearings does your drawer suspension have, this bid asked manufacturing questions like this:
1. Please identify any and all components of this product that are manufactured by a third party, and please describe your relationship with this third party. We interpreted this as a way to find out if the content of the product is coming from Asian suppliers or any other off shore suppliers that use harmful chemicals or other undesirable things in the manufacturing process. It allowed us to talk about how the product is made, where it is made etc.
The same bid had great questions about the environment. First off, the section was called "Environmental Health & Safety" - nice heading.
1. Please state the percent of recycled goods that are in the product as well as the degree which this product is itself recyclable.
2. Is this product Green Guard certified?
3. Is the final assembly of this product less than 500 miles from the project site? Please identify the assembly location.
Straightforward, relevant to LEED and open ended so we can answer and add information as needed.
There are a zillion ways to ask for information and then of course, there are a zillion ways to respond - this one worked for us.
One recent bid was short, concise and filled with questions relevant to their needs. Instead of a normal section about gauge of steel and how many ball bearings does your drawer suspension have, this bid asked manufacturing questions like this:
1. Please identify any and all components of this product that are manufactured by a third party, and please describe your relationship with this third party. We interpreted this as a way to find out if the content of the product is coming from Asian suppliers or any other off shore suppliers that use harmful chemicals or other undesirable things in the manufacturing process. It allowed us to talk about how the product is made, where it is made etc.
The same bid had great questions about the environment. First off, the section was called "Environmental Health & Safety" - nice heading.
1. Please state the percent of recycled goods that are in the product as well as the degree which this product is itself recyclable.
2. Is this product Green Guard certified?
3. Is the final assembly of this product less than 500 miles from the project site? Please identify the assembly location.
Straightforward, relevant to LEED and open ended so we can answer and add information as needed.
There are a zillion ways to ask for information and then of course, there are a zillion ways to respond - this one worked for us.
Saturday, December 1, 2007
The Green Office
The Wall Street Journal published an article entitled "Going Green Draws Talent". The article talks about how the a green office attracts young talent, increases productivity and reduces costs. They site several supporting sources including MonsterTRAK.com data and recruiters for Merrill Lynch and other large corporations. Companies are including their green practices in their literature and websites to help advertise their efforts.
At first glance, I thought the article was going to be another one that discusses what green practices are and what the USGBC says etc. But I was pleasantly surprised because the article talked about the employee experience. Natural daylight, filtered air, energy efficiency, things that are specific to the person and how they experience their work environment. It felt like there was a link between vision, philosophy and walking the talk. It reminds me of unaligned behaviors like serving organic, free trade coffee in your office but putting the coffee into paper cups or Styrofoam cups. It takes a lot of effort to marry up the vision with the day to day - that is an organizational shift. Yes it can be top down or bottom up but it requires both and all - and every individual counts.
Not to get too out there but sometimes the world feels so big and you feel so small and insignificant. Or maybe you feel out of control and you are desperately trying to get control of something. Well, the power of one is incredible. If you change your mind or change your habit, that impacts everything. Think of one thing in your office that could be changed to better the environment. Do that one thing and see what happens. It does not matter if you change someone else's mind or behavior. Do it for you - you have the impact - the world is just a huge amount of individuals, yous, that are making choices every day. Change your decisions and you will change the momentum.
When someone walks into your offices they have an experience. You cannot tell that person what it is supposed to be. Sight, sound, smell, design and energy make up that experience. When that someone leaves your office and calls a friend or family member and talks about their interview, I would bet that there is a comment on the feeling they had during their interview. "Wow, you should see the offices, they are a dump" "Wow, it just felt like a really great place and everyone was smiling". I can go on and on. I find it fascinating that the young talent is looking for stewardship in green from employers and are making their personal decisions using their power as an individual to "not be part of the problem" as one person in the WSJ article was quoted as saying.
At first glance, I thought the article was going to be another one that discusses what green practices are and what the USGBC says etc. But I was pleasantly surprised because the article talked about the employee experience. Natural daylight, filtered air, energy efficiency, things that are specific to the person and how they experience their work environment. It felt like there was a link between vision, philosophy and walking the talk. It reminds me of unaligned behaviors like serving organic, free trade coffee in your office but putting the coffee into paper cups or Styrofoam cups. It takes a lot of effort to marry up the vision with the day to day - that is an organizational shift. Yes it can be top down or bottom up but it requires both and all - and every individual counts.
Not to get too out there but sometimes the world feels so big and you feel so small and insignificant. Or maybe you feel out of control and you are desperately trying to get control of something. Well, the power of one is incredible. If you change your mind or change your habit, that impacts everything. Think of one thing in your office that could be changed to better the environment. Do that one thing and see what happens. It does not matter if you change someone else's mind or behavior. Do it for you - you have the impact - the world is just a huge amount of individuals, yous, that are making choices every day. Change your decisions and you will change the momentum.
When someone walks into your offices they have an experience. You cannot tell that person what it is supposed to be. Sight, sound, smell, design and energy make up that experience. When that someone leaves your office and calls a friend or family member and talks about their interview, I would bet that there is a comment on the feeling they had during their interview. "Wow, you should see the offices, they are a dump" "Wow, it just felt like a really great place and everyone was smiling". I can go on and on. I find it fascinating that the young talent is looking for stewardship in green from employers and are making their personal decisions using their power as an individual to "not be part of the problem" as one person in the WSJ article was quoted as saying.
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