GREEN YOUR WORK OFFERS BLUEPRINT FOR ‘GREENING’
ONE’S BUSINESS AS MEANS TOWARDS ‘GREEN’ REWARDS

There's a new book every single business owner and executive should add to the top of his/her reading list. Green Your Work Boost Your Bottom Line While Reducing Your Eco-Footprint (Adams 2008) by eco-preneur and green lifestyle expert, Kim Carlson, reviews the range of short, medium and long-term solutions to greening the workplace as a means towards reducing operating costs, fostering happy employees, cultivating business ethics and ultimately increasing revenues and profitability. Green Your Work is now in bookstores and available at online retailers.

"Every company can benefit from greening their business," explains Carlson, founder of Cities Management, a Minneapolis-based property management company, who has greened five of her own businesses and hundreds of others over the course of 25 years. "No matter what phase of growth your business is in, there is truly every reason in the world to pursue sustainability and absolutely no downside - unless fame, success and fortune is a downside for you."

So, with the goal of taking this concept from daunting to do-able, Carlson offers practical guidance in three quick-read parts:

Part 1: Why Should I Care - explores the multitude of economic, health and planetary reasons green business is becoming increasingly essential - especially as organizations strive to differentiate themselves from the competition.
Part II: How Do I Care - walks readers through the mindful process of greening their physical space, the operation and products with the goal of saving energy, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, keeping water clean and ultimately striving for carbon neutrality.
Part III: How Do I Get Them To Care - in this section, Carlson talks about motivation, inspiration, collaboration, communication and training as a means towards creating a culture of legitimacy, authenticity and transparency - not only internally, but also among suppliers and vendors - up and down the ranks.

"There will always be economy-related reasons not to green," she says. "When times are booming, you're too busy to think about it; when times are tight, there's not enough money." But, Carlson truly believes that through the process of baby steps, businesses will begin to see the benefits of going green as a means toward reaping green.

Carlson's no-nonsense approach is straightforward, but never preach-y. She explains that businesses (as well as people in general) tend to operate somewhere along a continuum of brown to deep green when it comes to environmental mindfulness. Brown represents flagrant skepticism for the environmental movement even if it saves money, whereas Deep Green indicates deep concern with purchases to match their values.

To this end, everything from renovating an existing space to building from the ground up; choosing the appropriate greenery for landscaping; greening the fleet, product and package; and establishing policies and protocols are explained insightfully and practically by Carlson. She then goes on to suggest how to effectively market "green" to customers, constituents and the community, and even reveals some major blunders she's made along the road to environmental sustainability.

Green Your Work sprinkles compelling statistics with at-your-fingertips resources that business owners can tap into today - nationally, regionally and locally - to start minimizing their company's environmental footprint.

Green Your Work Boost Your Bottom Line While Reducing Your Eco-Footprint has a suggested retail price of $14.95. It is printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper and is available now on amazon.com and in bookstores nationwide.

AAM | Courtney O'Neill
212 661 1336
courtney@aammanagement.com