Happy Anniversary, Guidance Green!

Today, we mark the two-year anniversary of Guidance Green! Created in March 2007 Guidance by CTO & Co-Owner, Jon Provisor, the Guidance Green committee has since achieved many accomplishments including turning Guidance into a carbon-neutral company, organizing, hosting and attending over dozen environmentally-friendly events and initiatives, and offering carbon-neutral hosting services to eCommerce clients, among others.

Our commitment to sustainability, corporate responsibility and the environment stands stronger than ever. Happy Anniversary, Guidance Green! To many more years of great work and dedication.

This March 28, Turn Off Your Lights

Earth Hour returns this year! It’s really simple: turn off your lights for 60 minutes – from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m on Saturday, March 28th. Guidance offices are closed on Saturday, but employees will be participating of Earth Hour from home that night.

The first Earth Hour was held in Australia in March 2007, and more than 2.2 million Sydney residents and 2,100 businesses switched off their lights, reducing energy consumption by 10.2%, according to Yahoo! News. The initiative has since traveled from the South Pacific to Europe to North America. Last year, lights on more than 200 downtown buildings were dimmed in Chicago, IL. Workers in Phoenix turned out the lights in all downtown city-owned buildings for one hour. Darkened restaurants glowed with candlelight in San Francisco while the Golden Gate Bridge, Coit Tower and other landmarks extinguished lights for an hour.

To learn more about Earth Hour, visit http://www.earthhour.org/.

Ale Espinosa
Guidance Green

Paper Holiday Cards? Not Guidance...

Each year, around 2.5 billion paper holiday cards are sent in the United States — enough to circle the planet 10 times! That is why this year, Guidance opted to send digital holiday cards to clients, vendors, partners, friends and family members in an effort to reduce additional, unnecessary paper waste. It's all part of Guidance's continued commitment to green living and sustainable business practices.

Paper Holiday Cards are so last holiday season! Spread the word...

Alejandra Espinosa
Guidance Green

California Coastal Cleanup Day

September 20th, 2008
9am to noon
Over 70 coastal sites throughout
Los Angeles County, Calif.

For the 18th consecutive year, Heal The Bay, a nonprofit environmental organization dedicated to making Southern California coastal waters and watersheds healthy and clean, has organized the Coastal Cleanup Day. This year's event will take place at over 70 different locations throughout Los Angeles County on Saturday, September 20th from 9am to noon.

As expected, Guidance Green will be there to help collect what Heal The Bay predict as the 1-millionth pound of trash they have collected in 18 years. The Guidance Green team will report at Dockweiler State Beach in Playa del Rey, CA.

If you'd like to join us, here's how:

• Download and print a copy of the Coastal Cleanup Day flyer to display on your car dashboard to benefit from the free parking from 9 to noon.
• Download and print the event's waiver and sign it. Bring it to the event with you.
• When you arrive at Dockweiler State Beach (or any of the 70 CCD-participating sites), turn in your waiver at the registration table or station #1.
• Proceed to station #2 to receive a safety and education talk with instructions for the day and to know where to clean, what to clean, and why.
• Once you are instructed you'll be ready to receive your cleanup supplies (trash bag, recycle bag, data card, pencil, and glove) from station #3.
• Please return everything at the wrap up of the event at 11:30am. Each site will have special instructions to follow day of, so pay attention to your cleanup captains.

Please note:

• All minors under the age of thirteen must be accompanied by an adult.
• All toddlers and babies must be with their parent at all times.
• All scouts, cubs, and youth groups should follow a reasonable adult-to-kid ratio for the safety of all participants at this event.

If you're wondering what to bring to the event, here's a list:

• a water bottle
• a hat
• sunscreen
• close-toe shoes
• appropriate clothing for a day of cleaning (if you plan on attending a beach site like Dockweiler State Beach, wear layers; if you're going inland to clean, wear clothes that will allow you to work in creek beds and rivers)

Cleanup supplies are provided by the California Coastal Commission at all sites.

For more information, contact Heal The Bay at (800) HEAL-BAY or visit their webiste at http://www.healthebay.org/.

See you on Saturday 9/20!

Guidance Featured in New Green Book!

One of our goals when Guidance started Guidance Green was “to expand the ‘Guidance Green’ mission into the community.”

So we’re thrilled to announce that Guidance and Jon Provisor are featured in the new book, Going Green: Case Studies in Outstanding Green Business Practices.

The story leads off Chapter 3 and is titled, Beyond Do’s and Don’ts – The Life of a Green Initiative Is Its Community.

Guidance is featured alongside companies like GE, Nickelodeon, HP, Walgreen's, Travelocity, National Geographic and more.

The article shares green actions that Guidance has taken and lessons learned along our company's path toward sustainability. Jon talks about the community-building benefits of collectively working toward a goal – getting beyond a list of do’s and don’ts to engage with others in a more personal way.

Many of you already know that Guidance was inspired to green action by one of our clients, Bentley Prince Street. So as you can imagine, it feels good to tell our own story, and maybe inspire someone else.

To quote from our own chapter:

“We’ve seen first-hand how one company sharing its story can influence another – and we’re hoping we can continue the legacy given to us by our client who inspired us.”

The book is available at www.prnewsonline.com/store/13.html. It’s published by the Media/Communications Group of Access Intelligence, from PRNews.

And - in case you were wondering - the book is printed on recycled paper!

Saving the planet one tree at a time!

Guidance Green to attend Tree Care Event on July 19

Want to have a great time while doing a great thing? Then join Tree Musketeers and Guidance Green on Saturday, July 19th, 2008 for a morning of fun and tree caring.

Here are the details:

• Who: Everyone is invited to join us for some fun in the sun!
  
  
• When: Saturday, July 19, 10:00 a.m. to Noon.
  
  
• Where: 600 West Grand Ave., El Segundo, CA 90245. From the Marina, take Culver to Vista del Mar and make a left on Grand at El Segundo Beach. Look for the Tree Musketeers pick-up truck on the North side of Grand, on the South border of the power plant.
  
  
• Parking: Park in the inlets on Grand. Carpool if you can, because parking is limited. Otherwise, the closest parking is on Loma Vista, farther North on Grand.
  
  
• What to bring: Tree Musketeers will provide all needed tools, gloves and water. Make sure to wear sunscreen and dress appropriately.
  
  
• What to Expect: We will weed, mulch, prune, water the trees and pick up litter.
  
  
• What if I'm not a tree-hugger: Rest assure, at no time we will ask you to hug a tree! But if living in a healthy planet is as important to you as it is to us, then feel free to join us.
  
  
  

See you on July 19th!

Guidance Green

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About Tree Musketeers

Founded in 1987 by a Brownie Girl Scout troop as the nation's first youth environmental organization, Tree Musketeers (http://www.treemusketeers.org/) continues to expand the vision of its founders, while operating as a nonprofit where kids are the decision makers. The mission of the El Segundo-based organization is to empower young people to be leaders of environmental and social change in the Earth's communities, with kids teaching other kids to become active citizens and community leaders.

Leaning Green: How to reap the benefits of sustainability

(Excerpted from Fast Lane, Smart Business Los Angeles, May 2008, by Patrick Mayock)

The next time you clock out, Jason Meugniot would like you to turn off your computer. It may seem like an odd request, but it’s just one of many rituals that he and his 75 employees at Guidance Solutions Inc. engage in on a regular basis.


The reason? Environmental sustainability.

“[The green movement] brings integrity to the business,” Meugniot says. “In today’s economy and business climate, integrity is essential to growth.”

At the information technology service company, the owner and CEO has embraced the employee-led initiative, which he says has contributed to the company posting $6.3 million in 2007 revenue.

Smart Business spoke with Meugniot about how to go green at your own company.

Q. How do you begin to establish an environmentally friendly workplace?

We put together an Environmental Toolkit that lists simple but key areas that we can look at to understand our carbon output and start the education process. We talk about hibernating or turning off our computers and using energy-efficient fluorescent light bulbs, optimizing the AC usage, or [using] light sensors in restrooms.

We talk about things like carbon credits and working with other companies who are committed to alternative energy sources. We talk about looking at your suppliers. Almost every company purchases certain staple products: paper, electricity, telephone service. Guidance, for example, works with Internet hosting vendors who use solar power instead of diesel generators as a backup source of power.

In order to establish carbon neutrality or really get serious about carbon neutrality, we look at education, measurement and action around reducing waste, improving air quality, eliminating greenhouse gas emissions and finding renewable sources of energy.

Q. How can other leaders implement programs at their companies?

To start an effective program, you need to walk the walk. You need to be carbon neutrality. As the executive, you set the example.

I’d also say you need commitment at all levels. You can’t do it alone. Let the initiative live and grow. Don’t stifle the conversation. When I say conversation, I mean the ongoing conversation at the office or at the business about the environment.

Allow employees to share ideas. Allow them to set up blogs. Talk about it. Don’t just post signs around the office.

Q. How do you get employees involved?

Start with education. We provided, very early on, links to Web sites. We shared personal stories. We screened movies [about environmental sustainability] here at the office. We talked about the impact of our own carbon imprint and helped employees to determine what their carbon footprint was at home.

We have a Guidance Green committee. The committee meets regularly throughout the month. They lead various initiatives, and they collate information.

Use your core values to generate buy-in. The first core value is honesty, integrity and fairness. If we’re to have any integrity or fairness in our consumption of nonrenewable resources, we all need to be committed to the environment.

A key component in the program is not creating a top-down program. It’s really creating a program that’s created and even led by the employees. To create this momentum, the employees really need to be a part of it at the onset.

Q. Do you choose the committee, or is it run by volunteers?

The people who serve on our committee are not asked or chosen. It’s a voluntary committee.

Look for people with energy, with commitment to the environment. Look for people who are open to ideas and then sharing those ideas.

Q. How has this movement benefited your company?

It’s really made an impact on our employees and how they work together and the bonds and relationships that keep them together.

We also have prospects who call us out of the blue wanting to work with us because they’ve heard we have a green program. I don’t want to give you the impression that it happens every day, but we are working with clients today who sought us out because they were referred to us from someone who’s heard that we have a green program.

It also filters into recruiting.

As your employees are talking to candidates and new recruits, they’ll say, ‘This is an amazing company. We take a stand for the environment in the face of various circumstances, and I’ve never worked at a company like that.’

You’ll have employees talk to other folks about it, and it gives them a sense of pride in the company they work for, in the work that they do and in their relationships together at the office.

Pictures of Earth Day 2008 at Polliwog Park

Guidance Achieves Carbon Neutrality

Guidance is excited to announce that we have achieved a goal we set for ourselves in early 2007 to achieve carbon neutrality by 2009. We did it – a full eighteen months earlier than expected!

For 2007, Guidance’s purchase of renewable energy credits offset 100% of the carbon emissions associated with our business activities. The renewable energy source derives from wind and biomass production facilities.

Our commitment to utilizing renewable energy credits helps avoid over 99 metric tons – or 219,000 pounds -- of CO2 per year, which has the equivalent impact of not driving over 243,000 miles.

We are extremely proud to have reached this important milestone and will continue to look for other ways to lessen the impact our activities have on the environment. Our environmental policy, published as a Declaration, details the many ways in which we are working to reduce or eliminate our impact on the environment.

Acknowledgement and thanks goes out to Green Mountain Energy Company who worked with us to calculate our carbon footprint and secure the renewable energy credits to offset our carbon emissions.