BUY LOCAL CASH MOB!

Check out the Cash Mob being held on Wednesday June 4th at the Electric City Bread Company from 10am to 5pm as a part of 7 Days of Green! Buy a locally roasted coffee, cinnamon bun, or lunch and let your money do the talking. Kawartha Loons encouraged. Support sustainable business and enjoy the great taste of green! 

Every company has its own reasons for becoming more sustainable.

Here are just a few benefits:

• Cost Reduction: Having a Sustainability Plan that reduces waste, water and energy reduces your environmental impact, but also makes the company more efficient and reduces costs. Check out the many examples!
• Enhanced Brand Value and Increased Competitive Advantage: Brand reputation is one of the most valuable assets for a company. Being a sustainable business shows that it is proactive in preventing harm and protecting human and ecosystem health. It also demonstrates that it cares about the social/environmental impacts throughout the entire supply chain. This is incredibly attractive to an increasingly growing market.
• Risk Management: Business Resiliency and Risk Management is new to sustainability vocabulary; however reducing risk will build stronger more resilient businesses and Communities for the future.
• Energy Efficiency: Reducing energy use, means reducing the bill. It can have a big impact on the bottom line.
• Increased Employee Retention and Recruitment: Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability Programs are attracting highly talented recent graduates- A group that will lead the way for future innovation!
• Positive Social and Environmental Impacts: I had to mention it- You can reduce your negative impacts, save money and have a positive impact on the social and natural environment.

Integrating sustainability into your business model can save your business money, promote efficiency, reduce your ecological footprint, and did I mention it can save you money?!  The Sustainable Peterborough Economic Development Working Group is presenting a series of workshops April 17^th from 11am – 1 pm called: “Harvest the low hanging fruit of business efficiency”

To get started here are 5 super easy tips on how to make your business more sustainable:

• Change your lighting. Switching to energy efficient fluorescent light bulbs is easy and they use approximately 75% less energy. Check out the Incentives and Grants workshop on you can get involved!
• Shutoff unused office equipment. This task is super simple, but it will cut down on wasted energy. If you’re not using it, the equipment doesn’t need to be powered on.
•  Don’t print.  Set the office printer up to print double sided, and think twice before hitting the print button.
• Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. Promote recycling within your company, keep recycling bins separate from garbage bins, reduce the amount of waste by promoting litter-less lunches, and use a compost bin!
• Encourage Carpooling. Join programs such as shifting gears, to encourage staff to take alternative sustainable ways to get to work like: carpool, bike, and public transit!

Little changes do add up, and you have to start somewhere, right? Want to learn how to harvest the low hanging fruit? Come to the workshops on April 17^th!

Risk management has not typically been in the vocabulary of most companies when it comes to sustainability planning. The last few years have forced businesses to re-evaluate their sustainability strategies to include resilience. Extreme weather has made a major economic impact across the world, and wreaked havoc on supply chains.  It is becoming all too obvious that risk management plays a large and necessary role in sustainability planning.

The article written by Joel Makower, The State of Green Business: Coping with Mother Nature’s Fury raises important questions: “At what point will climate, extreme weather and resource constraints be similarly seen as a potent threat that requires changes to the design and operation of our businesses and supply chains? What will be the dramatic event(s) that provide the tipping point? How much disruption and inconvenience will the public be willing to tolerate?”

These questions ignite the argument of how sustainability is viewed in organizations, whether it is only environmental responsibility, or rather is it also a vital continuity strategy that supports the endurance and resiliency of business in a turbulent and changing world.

P3 Sustainability specializes in making businesses resilient by using innovative strategies that integrate business continuity and sustainability planning to build stronger businesses for the future.

P3 Sustainability will work to develop a line of communication between local businesses and community organizations to build a strong network of leaders in sustainability and continuity.