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

iPhone Applications for the Environmentally Friendly

If you own an iPhone, you are probably as addicted to their AppStore as I’ve been over the last couple of months. From silly (yet shockingly addictive) mobile games to restaurant-finder apps, there are over 4,900 applications to choose from (and counting!). There’s really something for everyone at the AppStore. Even for those who care about the environment, like the members of Guidance Green. Check these out:

Local Reuse
Did you know the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that in 2008 Americans will send over 12.5 million tons of reusable items to their local landfills? You can help reduce that number by listing your items on Local Reuse, an iPhone application that lets users post and search for used goods in their area.

Green Tips and Go Green
So many eco-friendly tips, so little time to learn them … so why don’t you learn them on the go?! With Green Tips and Go Green, you’ll get a brand new eco-friendly tip every time you launch the application. They are both fairly similar, but each will give you a different tip. Double the tips, double the fun!

Enjoy the apps!

Alejandra Espinosa
Guidance Green

--------

Local Reuse™ is a registered trademark of Gigoit, Inc.
Green Tips is a copyrighted work of MacAppetite.
Go Green is a copyrighted work of Webworks and Applications, Inc.

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!

Earth Day: 20 Years in the Making

I was about 7 or 8 years old when my father first introduced me to the concept of Earth Day. At first, the thought of celebrating the planet for a full day sounded a bit trivial to me. I remember asking “Do we get to open presents on Earth Day?” Since the answer was a sad “no”, I never made a big deal of it. But not my father. He had been celebrating Earth Day since 1970, when it was first observed, and was into recycling, reusing, even regifting way before they became popular concepts. He also had a huge Earth Day poster hanging from his office wall, which he kept there for many years, even after he took it down, as the poster’s outline was permanently stained on the wall.

Two decades have passed and it wasn’t until this year that I officially celebrated my first Earth Day. You know how the saying goes: better late then never! But the day 20 years in the making couldn’t come at a better time, nor with a better way to celebrate it.

I recently joined Guidance, a Southern California-based developer of e-Commerce and Web 2.0 solutions. Interestingly enough, I was immediately drawn to the company’s Green committee, called Guidance Green, and decided to join. If this is the first time you come across our blog, then you probably don’t know that Guidance Green is a committee formed by Guidance employees who value the importance of living and working in a healthy planet. We seek to spread the word in favor of eco-friendly practices that can be carried out by companies and their employees.

This year, Guidance Green chose to have a booth at a local Earth Day fair. The main goal for attending the event was to inspire the audience to join our movement by employing new techniques to make their work a whole lot eco-friendlier than before. If you are wondering how to do this yourself, then you may want to try talking to your company’s management team and asking them to consider eco-friendly practices like recycling, company-wide carpooling programs, and even buying Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) to offset your company’s carbon footprint. To learn more, check out our Green Toolkit on How to Operate as an Environmentally Aware Organization and Reduce or Eliminate Your Carbon Footprint. You can also try modifying your work routine by following our 10 Tips to Make Your Day-to-Day Work Eco-Friendlier.

To draw people into our booth, we gave away three baskets filled with eco-friendly products, including reusable shopping bags from one of our favorite customers- Bentley Prince Street, gift certificates to The Veggie Grill and Buddha’s Belly, reusable mugs, containers and water bottles, organic snacks, and a lot more. Even the baskets themselves were made of recycled materials and the cellophane used to wrap them up was 100% biodegradable. The three lucky winners were overjoyed with their prizes.

I had a chance to talk to the event organizers, who confirmed that this year’s attendance and sponsorships had significantly surpassed that of previous years. It was a great experience to be part of such a rewarding event.

After what I think was a very successful day, I got home extremely exhausted but very exhilarated. I immediately laid on my couch to take a quick nap, but first I turned on the TV to watch the news. To my surprise, one of the major networks was airing a show called “Greening the Earth”. “What a great way to end my day!” I thought.

And so today we celebrate the real Earth Day, and all I can think of is how twenty years ago I didn’t know -much less care- about Earth Day and how much it matters to me now. So here’s to you, Dad! You never thought you'd hear me saying this, but -- Happy Earth Day! And Happy Earth Day to all of you.


Alejandra Espinosa
Guidance Green

Rub a Dub Dub

"I don't make that big of an impact..."
"I can't change it..."
"My carbon footprint isn't that bad..."

If you're like, me those thoughts constantly run through your head when it comes to tackling global warming and caring for our environment. I was in constant denial about the impact my lifestyle has on the environment that my kids are going to inherit! Fortunately, I woke up one day and it hit me like a ton of bricks; too many people think the way I do...that's why our environment is in crisis.

I took a long hard look at my life (note: this is usually the hardest part, actually doing what's right is MUCH easier!). Over my next few posts I will chronicle the small steps I have taken to" lower my carbon footprint, recycle, reuse and save water!

First up: Showering

My showers aren't about just getting squeaky clean, they're cathartic. Wash off the day and time to relax! Unfortunately my showers contribute to 2781 lbs. of CO2 emission a year! And if I were to cut my 10 minute showers (much more if I'm washing my hair) by just one minute I would reduce my CO2 emissions by 278 lbs. It's that simple...and it's that easy. Voila -one giant leap out of denial! More to come...

Calculate your CO2 emissions here

~Francine