Book no. 4 on the green book review week is a guide that should be on the bookshelf in your office and maybe even on your boss' desk (or your desk if you're the boss..). Our book today is:
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Greening Your Business
Authors: Trish Riley and Heather Gadonniex
Trish Riley is an award-winning environmental journalist and author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide® to Green Living as well as articles in many publications, including Hemispheres, Audubon Magazine and the Miami Herald.
Heather Gadonniex is the co-founder of Green It Group, a sustainability advisory firm focusing on sustainable business strategy and implementation, green building, and environmental marketing.
Publisher: Alpha
Published on: June 2009
What this book is about? (from the the book's Amazon webpage) Businesses are always looking to increase their profitability and market share. With rising costs of fuel and consumers targeting environmentally-responsible companies to patronize, businesses have jumped on the green initiative and reaped the financial benefits. The Complete Idiot’s Guide® to Greening Your Business provides the most up-to-date, concrete, and practical steps for readers to follow to get rich by going green.
What we think about it?
I like the Complete Idiot's Guide series - these are very practical guides that provide you in a structured and user-friendly way with the basic important information you need to whatever green topic they're covering. And this book is no different. It is practical, structured, informative and easy to understand.
This guide deals not only with the 'how' but also with the 'why' and makes an effort to explain in detail the business case of greening your business, both in general and with specific issues such as your office systems or shipping.
I liked the way it helps to clarify complex concepts such as sustainability, carbon offsetting, life cycle assessment and so on. It is very helpful that it is covering every element in the business - from HR to marketing. Still, you have to remember that this book is similar to an introduction course, so for example, when we look at paper usage, we find basic tips such as using recycled paper or printing on both sides, but if you want to further explore this topic, you need to look for further resources (like this article of Neil Tilley) to learn more.
Bottom Line: No matter if you're a business owner or an employee who wants to help greening up your business, this guide a good book to start with. It's practical tips, structure and understanding how real-life business works make it a valuable resource.
Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
Eco-Libris: promoting green reading
