Posts Tagged sustainability
Sustainability in Sammamish
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on August 27th, 2009
The City of Sammamish is celebrating its 10 year anniversary as a city this year. On Saturday August 29th the city is throwing a big party to celebrate and will invite all to join in the fun. The day begins with fun and games and ends with a night of wine and jazz.
Even as the city grows it places great importance of creating a city that can be enjoyed by its residents for years to come. The City Hall building is a LEED certified building, the new library that is being built is using green features. Sustainability is so important to the city that it has designated September as Sustainable September in Sammamish and is kicking off the month with the first annual Sustainability event on September 2nd to help highlight and educate local businesses and residents on the importance or incorporating sustainability into their lives.
The excitement of sustainability in Sammamish comes from the community, its residents, businesses and even the kids. Not only is the City striving for a more sustainable city but the Sammamish Chamber of Commerce is busy educating and acknowledging its businesses on their contribution to a sustainable city. Join the city in their celebrations!
Support your own Prosperity, Think Local
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on April 20th, 2009
Many studies have documented the benefit to choosing to spend your money at locally owned businesses. Yes, in general, it is true that you will not be able to buy everything locally but the idea is to think about what you can buy locally and the impact it has on your city. Bellingham, Washington has developed a great program and so has Portland, Maine
Five good reasons to shop locally
- Money back into the community: If you choose to buy your products from a locally owned business, instead of a nationally owned business the amount of money that stays in the community is increased three to four times. Another study shows that locally owned businesses generate 70% more economic impact per square foot. Additionally, non-profit organizations receive an average of 250% more support from smaller businesses than large ones. Locally owned businesses are tied into the community and will recycle more of its money back into the community. By supporting locally run businesses you are strengthening the economic vitality of your community.
- Environmental footprint: Locally owned businesses make more local purchase; this decreases the amount of deliveries made over long distances. If you are shopping locally, you are not making long trips.
- Cost: Good studies that look at the price comparison between local and non-local retailers are not readily available. On the other hand, a survey of pharmacies in Maine found that chain stores were on average 15% more expensive. Locally owned bookstores have been found to be 4%-8% cheaper than some of the big chains. Often, large chain stores will buy brand name items in bulk at cheaper prices because they are made with cheaper parts even though the product itself may appear to be the same as the ones sold by locally owned businesses.
- Innovation: The operation of many small businesses in the community is a good way to ensure innovation over time because the businesses are local and can focus on the needs of the customer and are not focusing on regional or national sales numbers or product lines.
- Create good jobs: Small businesses are vital to creating jobs; they are the largest employer nationally. The people that are hired by small businesses generally have good knowledge of the product they are selling and a good understanding of the business they are working for.
Your actions directly affect the vitality of Sammamish and the businesses in it. To support locally run businesses you must spend your money at locally owned stores. If you are supporting local vendors, you are positively impacting the environment by reducing the amount of transportation and the money you spend will be returned directly to your economy.
Corporate “Green” Commitment
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on February 19th, 2009
Many companies are taking sustainability to the next level but some are stuck in a vast sea of red tape. CEOs are heavily involving their employees in the quest for a more sustainable planet. Adecco did a workplace insight survey that revealed, many companies are becoming more green in response to their employees demanding that corporations incorporate more sustainable/green practices. Companies are reminded by job seekers and employees that their commitment to the environment and social issues is important to them and they will choose their employers based corporate sustainability practices. “In releasing its survey results, the Marlin Company noted that 77.7 percent of the U.S. workers responding said it is important to them for their employers to be going green in a significant way.”
Even though the CEOs are on board and willing to make the changes that the employees are asking for (their motives may be more tightly in line with good PR and saving money), large corporations are finding it difficult to implement many of these changes. “According to 1,200 U.K. workers surveyed by power and gas giant E.ON, jobholders at small to medium-sized firms are significantly more likely to help curb energy use and carbon emissions by turning off lights and computers and recycling than employees at larger companies, who say bureaucracy hampers their efforts.” There are many layers in large corporations and sometimes even with the best of intentions the ideas get lost. Middle management is removed from the hard numbers of running the business and doesn’t have time to take on another cause. Somehow the corporate message must be adequately conveyed to middle management and by middle management. Education is the key that is often overlooked… check back for our next segment on education.