Wearing green on their sleeves
Paper or plastic? It’s not an option at the Beauty & Wisdom boutique on Santa Monica’s Main Street.
Shoppers have their chemical-free organic lotions, lip balms and cleansers packed in recycled paper bags stuffed with tissue made largely from paper recycled by consumers -- an important distinction for the eco-conscious.
Green measures also show up in the back office where staff rely on Energy Star-rated appliances, print on both sides of copy paper and save ink cartridges for refilling. Old batteries are collected for a city disposal program. Even the shop’s opening and closing procedures include steps that save energy.
Owner Janabai Amsden’s commitment to reduce the negative environmental effects of her small business earned the venture a green business certificate from Santa Monica last spring, one of 20 issued by the city in the last two years.
“As business owners, everything we create and how it gets into the universe -- how it is packaged, how we choose to put it out there -- is actually our personal responsibility,” said Amsden, who also owns Euphoria Loves Rawvolution, a green-certified raw-foods cafe, with her husband, Matt. “Our responsibility is exponentially greater than an individual’s because our impact is greater.”
Los Angeles is trying to get its own green business certification program off the ground but has been hampered by the city’s budget deficit.
A possible break in the funding logjam could come as early as today, when City Councilman Richard Alarcon is expected introduce a motion to fund the $200,000 pilot program with city money.
If that step fails, he’s hoping a state Senate bill under consideration might provide a source of funds. The former state senator had previously tried to get a statewide certification program launched without success. He said he was confident the citywide effort, which is backed by the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, would succeed.
“As much as people think that environmental causes are not business friendly, we are trying to prove that they are and that there is a market for environmentalism,” Alarcon said.
The program probably will be operated by a nonprofit overseen by city officials. If funding comes through, the program could launch as early as July. Initially it would target restaurants, office-based businesses, retailers and auto body shops, Alarcon said.
Santa Monica has relied on a local nonprofit, Sustainable Works, to run its program, with support from the chamber of commerce and convention and visitors bureau. The program’s site, at www.smgbc.org, lists green-certified businesses.
The exposure has increased business at the green-certified Ocean View Hotel, whose owner says customers increasingly expect sustainable practices. The family-owned business, which got its green sticker last fall, uses low-flow shower heads, faucets and toilets and offers guests the option to avoid daily washing of sheets and towels.
“It’s not as difficult as it seems, and the cost savings and the revenue increases from the marketing alone really will help it pay for itself,” said Michael Farzam, who plans to replace two hotels, the Pacific Sands and the neighboring Travelodge, with a 164-room Travelodge to be built to qualify for certification from the U.S. Green Building Council under its LEED program, also known as the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System.
Santa Monica consulting firm Gladstein Neandross & Associates credits its designation as a green business for helping it grow to 22 employees from eight in 2005.
“It’s a really good recruiting tool,” said Rebecca Schenker, senior associate at the firm.
Gladstein Neandross, which organizes clean-air conferences, has used checklists from Sustainable Works to guide its conference procedures. It hands out name-badge holders made of recycled materials, prints programs on recycled paper with soy ink and relies on e-mail to cut paper waste.
It also tries to hire alternative-fuel buses to transport conference attendees.
More small businesses want to go green these days but many are confused by the hodgepodge of information and programs available.
Consumers, meanwhile, want a reliable guide to green businesses. The demand from both sides is accelerating in part because of news such as last week’s announcement by the Interior Department declaring the polar bear threatened because of the decline in Arctic sea ice.
Also driving the demand are new state laws that will force cuts in emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.
“Third-party certification is the bottom line,” said Jonathan Parfrey, director of the Green L.A. coalition, which is working with Los Angeles to design the city’s green business certification program.
The city is looking to Santa Monica’s program for ideas, as well as to a Northern California program started by several counties in 1997. San Diego County also offers a certification program.
Funding and other resources remain a challenge. Sustainable Works has a small backlog for the program because it has used up the funding available for the fiscal year ending June 30.
Creating a backlog is something L.A. program planners are also concerned about as they wrangle with designing a program on a larger scale than has been attempted before. The city has 11,000 restaurants alone.
Sustainable Works is in talks with the small business development center at Santa Monica College to help reach more businesses with its greening programs, including a free workshop series.
Ultimately, the programs also will have to expand the appeal of certification beyond businesses, such as Beauty & Wisdom, that already bank on attracting eco-conscious consumers.
And the marketing piece, which in Santa Monica includes discounted advertising in local publications and free listing in quarterly ads run by Sustainable Works, doesn’t go far enough for some.
Amsden rattled off a list of steps she’d like to see the city take to raise awareness of its green-certified businesses.
She suggested city maps that highlight green operations, green-business tours and, following up on a suggestion a few years ago by a city council member, the creation of a “greenlight” district concept where eco-friendly businesses put low-energy lights outside their front doors. The color, of course, would be green.
Amsden said she has already put one up at Beauty & Wisdom and other businesses were considering green lights, including the green-certified Patagonia shop and the Yoga Works studio, which is working on its certification.
The point is to make it easier for consumers to vote for sustainable practices with their purchasing dollars.
“It’s good business,” Amsden said. “Green is the new black.”
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