"Going Green" is a process for any company as it requires desire, commitment, funding and action.  Responsible action must include responsible fiscal management and planning. Otherwise an all out push to go green rapidly could result in your company falling on hard times or even having to close its doors.

Each of these steps represents a greater level of commitment, cost and employee education.

1)  The most basic.  When your company provides a healthy and safe working environment, uses only non-toxic cleaning materials and implements a reduce, reuse and recycle program at its facilities and strives to reduce the use of plastics.

2) Your company extends the program to ensure that all packaging paper goods and other similar material come from 100 % recycled sources.  As well, you introduce initiatives to decrease energy and oil consumption, and diversify energy sources.

3) Your company designs or re-designs processes and operations to reduce the environmental footprint.  You invest in certification programs that report on how effective its environmental stewardship has been.

4) Your company implements the highest form of sustainable practices, given current technology. It declines to use fossil fuel (petroleum, coal) or neuclear-based sources of energy. Your company has zero emissions and has no impact on the environment from extraction to waste in your product lifecycle.

We must integrate the environment in all business decisions, eliminate waste throughout the product life cycle, treat stakeholders as you would want to be treated, eliminate hazardous chemicals, switch away from high-carbon energy sources, explore new technology and promote cultures of innovation.

One step at a time.