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Sustainability: Business Planning for the Long Haul

Fluctuating oil prices have finally done for green what advocates have tried in vain for years to accomplish: Convinced large companies to invest in sustainable energy.

Spurred by the high price of oil – and our nation’s desire to become less dependent on foreign energy sources – companies are looking for ways to increase their energy efficiency, lower costs, and reduce their impact on global climate change by lowering greenhouse gas emissions.

Many of the Fortune 200 companies (such as GE, WalMart and DuPont) have jumped on board the sustainable bandwagon, but so, too, has another major force in the U.S. economy: the Department of Defense.

The federal government is the largest purchaser of goods and services, and now federal guidelines require the military to purchase green products and use green vendors as often as possible. Even some universities are getting in on the act, moving towards LEED-certified (energy efficient) buildings when they undergo new building projects.

Energy efficient buildings save money in the long-run, and many businesses feel they need to lower the cost of doing business in order to remain competitive. So many companies have embraced sustainable energy that now they also feel the need to do so to remain attractive to consumers.

In other words, going green is no longer just good for the environment. It’s now good business, and that bodes well for a sustainable future.

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To read more about this and other environmental health issues, go to: www.environmentalhealthnews.org, www.ourstolenfuture.org, or www.healthandenvironment.org