Making a Green Action Plan

When doing this exercise, try not to consider the cost of any changes, think about that later. Right now concentrate on why you want to go green and where you see opportunities to make greener choices. Don’t sort or edit your list while making it, just take ten minutes (set a timer) and write down everything that comes to mind.

e.g. Bio fuels, solar heat and power, wind power, high efficiency lighting, recycled paper products, hybrid vehicles, anything.

Imagine that you had all the resources you could need to make these changes. Shoot the moon with your ideas. Start by making 3 lists.

1. Your reasons for greening your business?

2. What you see as benefits to going green?

3. What do you want or think you could do to green in your business?

Look at all aspects of your business from pens and paper, travel and commuting, to electricity and water use.

4. Put the list away and look at it first thing tomorrow morning before you start to do any other reading or writing, newspapers included.

Make sure you set time aside to look at this again. When get back to your list if you have some new ideas, add them to the list. Your brain has had since yesterday to churn away at these ideas.

5. Take a look at what you’ve written down and sort under headings appropriate to your business.

If you wrote down biofuels, hybrid vehicles and idle reduction list those under a heading like vehicle or fleets operations. If you wrote down recycled paper, paperless office, eco friendly printing, or paper recycling put that under Office or Consumables. Pick heading that mean something to you and your business.

With your ideas sorted under some headings, imagine that you had 60% of the resources you need to complete your green changes.

6. Prioritize each list starting with what you see as the easiest to change and/or the changes you could make the soonest. Try not to remove anything from your lists.

Changes like higher efficiency lighting and heating controls (thermostats), shutting off all lights, computers and devices at the end of the day and double sided printing should go near, if not right at the top. Changes like electric vehicles or 100% solar power you may want to put further down the list.

7. Re-title as Draft Green Action plan.