Environmental sustainability is important for one obvious reason. That being that our environment needs to be healthy to provide us with basic survival needs – clean air, food, clean water, and a litany of other things.
But what is lost to most is that sustainability could be potentially harnessed to help the business world prosper. The idea is that disconnecting commercial growth from the reliability on resource consumption could lead to innovation in product development, as well as creating changes to stagnant consumer behavior.
These changes could lead to a more competitive marketplace, as well as a number of cost-saving advantages. This is in addition to obvious benefits to the environment around us that need to be sustained for those aforementioned basic survival resources.
Going “Green” Isn’t Just a Slogan
A lot of companies are beginning to find ways to be more efficient in the way that they conduct business. One company, for example, constructed a LEED-certified plant. The roof of that plant is 75,000 square feet of greenhouse that helps to control the temperatures in the building and also grows produce for local restaurants and residents.
That same company produces a line of scented products that focus on lead-free wicks. These small changes not only make the air around these products safer to breathe, but are cost-effective for the company to produce.
A Shift for the Better
These forward-thinking companies are in a position to not only keep an eye on the bottom-line, but to also keep a focus on improving the world around them. Part of this is driven through government initiatives – tax breaks for certain eco-friendly business materials, for instance – but now more than ever it is due to the possibility of becoming more profitable while helping the environment.
When these two factors come into play, it becomes a win-win all around. Companies continue to find innovations in environmental sustainability that have a lasting impact on the way they do business. With the growth of technology, this is a trend that will gain steam.