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The Green Workplace
Book

The Green Workplace

Sustainable Strategies That Benefit Employees, the Environment and the Bottom Line

Leigh Stringer
Palgrave Macmillan, 2009

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Editorial Rating

7

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Recommendation

The business case for sustainability is now fairly well-established: Doing good is good business. Building sustainability into your firm requires change, which human nature resists. Leigh Stringer describes how companies can solve pressing environmental problems while increasing profits and providing a happier workplace. getAbstract recommends this book as a solid starting point from which to address sustainability changes. Stringer covers a full range of promising solutions and provides a “green” take on change management, but other books in the field may offer more depth on implementation. “Design thinking” is all about solving multiple problems at once, and Stringer persuasively argues that this approach can meet the demands of the emerging idea-driven marketplace.

Summary

What You Can Already Do for Sustainability

Sustainability is an issue for every business. Human demand for the Earth’s resources has grown exponentially. Just 3% of the water on the planet is fresh, and most of that is not available for drinking. Leading experts fear that by 2020, 1.5 billion people will lack access to potable water. In most developed countries, energy use per capita continues to rise.

Government regulations increasingly mandate greater energy efficiency. Stockholders demand sustainability-centric policies. As the population ages, talented young workers will become increasingly scarce and more sought after. Companies should note that these workers care about their employers’ responses to environmental issues. As people become more conscious of the consequences of an acquisitive lifestyle in terms of ecological, health and family concerns, they begin to imagine, develop and embrace new, more flexible ways of conducting business. To solve an evolving multitude of environmental crises, businesses must adapt.

Most companies undertake sustainability projects because they save money. Improving indoor air quality reduces costs incurred by employee absences...

About the Author

Leigh Stringer is a vice president at Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum, an architectural firm specializing in design solutions for sustainability. She edits TheGreenWorkplace.com.

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