It’s Harder to Be Green In Some Businesses Than Others

One of the topics that interests me as a SmartChick is the topic of being green. I’ve researched and written about numerous green topics including green interior design, green technology issues and green money-saving habits. However, the topics that interest me most in the world of being green are those topics that don’t get touched on much by the mainstream writing world.

For example, I’ve written a lot about green creativity, including green writing. And recently, I started to take an interest in what it means to be green in industries that aren’t focused on being green. What I’ve learned is that it’s fairly easy to be green in industries that have already gotten on the green bandwagon. Farmers have a lot of options for going green as do real estate professionals and home builders. However, it’s not nearly as easy to go about being green in industries that haven’t adopted an emphasis on this topic yet.

For example, I recently did some research into the business of construction and demolition. There is definitely attention to being green in the area of construction. However, the emphasis on being green is a lot less visible when it comes to demolition. The green efforts of this industry seemed to be limited to proper recycling of waste from demolition jobs.

So what do you do if you’re a green business that wants to contribute to the world around you in a healthy way but the industry that you’re in doesn’t make that easy? The answer to this can be explored at least in part by taking a look at Maverick Hammers. This is a company that manufactures hydraulic hammers. That’s not an industry that’s particularly green but the business tries to do its part anyway.

The key ways that the business does this are by using durable materials to decrease continued waste, reducing the amount of shipping they do to limit transportation waste and staying informed about green issues and options. These are things that any business could work on doing even if the industry that the business is a part of isn’t quite at the top of the green supporters list.

Have you discovered industries that are tougher to be green in? What are the best ways to make it easier for those businesses within these industries to be green?