With international Earth Day just around the corner on April 22, we, the consumers, ask regional business owners to show us their green.

We follow their lead on sales and promotions, so now we’d like their leadership on providing more energy-saving and Earth-friendly products and services. They should show us their green products in eye-catching, front-of-the-store displays. Show us the value of organic and Colorado-grown foods. Make a point of thinking green when they order from vendors to reduce packaging, to buy close to home and to provide organic or recycled options.

This doesn’t have to be complicated, but it does require commitment on their part. We applaud their efforts so far, but we know they can do more.

If businesses already are trying to go green, tell us about it. We want to hear about their lighting retrofits, their new high efficiency boiler, their building energy audits or their green construction techniques for remodels. We applaud when their delivery truck drivers pledge not to idle their engines. We are ready to never use a styrofoam cup or container again if they pledge the same. We are happy to see a few more Made-in-America and Colorado-Proud stickers on products to reduce the environmental burdens of long-distance shipping.

Give recycled and green products a break. These products may not sell at the traditional volume of products engrained in the consumer consciousness, but they do sell.

We know there is a lot of green talk out there, so help us be practical with the environmentally sound changes we can all make in our busy lives. To learn how to green your business, log on to GreenBiz.com, SustainableBusiness.com, RMI.org, energystar.gov or Colorado.gov/energy.

Show us your green for Earth Day, and every day, and we’ll part with our own hard-earned green.

SUZIE ROMIG
New Castle Environmental Advisory Committee
New Castle
HEATHER MCGREGOR
Glenwood Springs Energy Efficiency Ad Hoc Committee
Glenwood Springs
MARK STEVENS
Sierra Club Roaring Fork Group
Glenwood Springs
BOB MILLETTE
Cool Communities Committee, Sierra Club Roaring Fork Group
Glenwood Springs

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 10th, 2008 at 12:40 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.