My unique experience at Kohler's headquarters in Kohler, WI
Angela Ogle and I had a unique experience at Kohler's headquarters in Kohler, WI.
We were invited to attend an upper management presentation identifying appropriate and environmentally sensitive products, properties and strategies for their company. We learned a lot about corporate process and the difficult trade offs between financing new green initiatives versus limited budgets for capital expenses. One executive reminded the 15 - 20 managers present that Ford spent over $1 Billion building a state of the art, environmentally efficient auto factory. However, in spite of the grand gesture, Ford missed the point by not spending part or all of the money manufacturing SUV’s with significantly lower gas consumption. Ford missed the PR benefit of their green factory.
The moral is obvious: we must practice what we preach comprehensively! We need to apply green standards in our workplace as well as to these products we provide our clients.
I am a firm believer that doing a little better than doing nothing. In fact, the total impact one household, one condo building or one office facility makes is small and difficult to measure. But success is made of millions of correct and beneficial actions – however small. Our conversation of paper and supplies, our recommendation to clients to choose water saving plumbing, energy saving lighting, appropriately scaled appliances, recycled, renewable and reclaimed products, etc., etc, all adds up to environmentally friendly actions to help save our planet. Anything we can do and doing these things frequently to improve our world is commendable and worth doing. “You may not notice the difference…but the environment will!”
We were invited to attend an upper management presentation identifying appropriate and environmentally sensitive products, properties and strategies for their company. We learned a lot about corporate process and the difficult trade offs between financing new green initiatives versus limited budgets for capital expenses. One executive reminded the 15 - 20 managers present that Ford spent over $1 Billion building a state of the art, environmentally efficient auto factory. However, in spite of the grand gesture, Ford missed the point by not spending part or all of the money manufacturing SUV’s with significantly lower gas consumption. Ford missed the PR benefit of their green factory.
The moral is obvious: we must practice what we preach comprehensively! We need to apply green standards in our workplace as well as to these products we provide our clients.
I am a firm believer that doing a little better than doing nothing. In fact, the total impact one household, one condo building or one office facility makes is small and difficult to measure. But success is made of millions of correct and beneficial actions – however small. Our conversation of paper and supplies, our recommendation to clients to choose water saving plumbing, energy saving lighting, appropriately scaled appliances, recycled, renewable and reclaimed products, etc., etc, all adds up to environmentally friendly actions to help save our planet. Anything we can do and doing these things frequently to improve our world is commendable and worth doing. “You may not notice the difference…but the environment will!”
