There are many different rational reasons to green your business or organisation today. However, the reality is that most businesses and organisations don’t start greening their business based on rationality. The environmental community has been trying for decades to work out how to get businesses, organisations and individuals to embrace green behaviours, like resource conservation and recycling. They have educated us for decades with endless shame campaigns, dangled savings at us and now shout threats of taxation, all with little real effect. It seems with hindsight that the majority of the world’s population resisted doing what was right simply because that was what everyone else was doing. It is only recently that the world has embraced green and fundamentally is shifting its collective focus towards greener behaviour.

Behaviourists call this phenomenon the herd mentality. In simple terms peer pressure drives green behaviour. An industry leading company that begins to go green will inspire other businesses to do the same or better. Most of us don’t want to be the first to adopt something new, we also don’t want to be the last to adopt something; we want to be in the middle of the pack. If you are one of the first to explore green in your industry and feel that you could be moved to action through rational thought, not to mention fame, success and money, then read on. With no downside there is every reason in the world to start greening your business today.

• DO THE RIGHT THING. We know that business is part of the problem and we know it needs to be part of the solution. There is nothing wrong with enlightened self-interest; it has brought our species to its current place in history. The attitude that there is gold in green may just get us through the huge environmental challenges that face us all today.

• DO IT FOR THE KIDS. Many people will change behaviour like smoking because of the children. This can be a good reason to green up your work, your kids. Most kids intuitively understand that we need to take care of the planet and everything in it. Our kids will be living in what we leave them. It is really all about your legacy, so do it for your legacy. The early green adopters will be considered pioneers and will long be remembered in their industry.

• DO IT FOR YOURSELF. Like you, people of all ages want more than just pay from their work, they want meaningful work. Meaningful work is a reason to get up in the morning that transcends a paycheck. It means doing good things that help rather than harm the world about us. Greening your organisation can provide you and others with the meaningful work they desire.

• DO IT FOR THE SHAREHOLDERS. The financial upshot of greening your organisation is quickly becoming a must have for every business. It has become the fiscally responsible thing to do because it can increase revenue and decrease expenses. After all, that is what business is all about, maximising profits for the shareholders. We all know that those green profits will be more important as resource costs increase. Green truly does mean green.

• DO IT FOR THE EMPLOYEES. The Gallup-Heathways Well-Being Index, released in April 2008, found that workers who are unhappy in their work have as much as fifteen extra sick days a year. Elements of a negative work environment that can contribute include: job dissatisfaction, lack of trust at work as well as authoritive rather than collaborative leadership. Greening your business operations, including your employees in the policy and procedural changes can go a long way to rid your organisation of these negative contributing factors and result in happier and more engaged employees. A green organisation is based on collaboration, authenticity and meaningful work.

• DO IT FOR GROWTH. Logic tells us that if we can accomplish the same task using fewer resources, it will cost us less. If we can switch to resource saving technologies along with renewably sourced materials, we will have an unlimited supply for our growing needs.

• DO IT FOR TOMORROW. Today in our heightened climate of green awareness, customers are coming to expect green product and service options and will pay more for them. Today green is a market differentiator. Tomorrow, green will be the only way to do business.

• DO IT FOR THE BOTTOM LINE. Green is good. A company’s greening efforts, no matter where they are located in the world, will illicit a more favourable image that translates to money in the bank. The favourable image will come from the company as a positive force into the local community instead of a passive or uncaring one. Word soon gets out if an operation is less than community or employee friendly. Going green equals an engaged work force and can be your market differentiator, setting your offering apart from others while drawing in new customers.

• DO IT FOR THE PLANET. Everything we do from driving, heating or cooling our buildings, making products and nearly every modern convenience we have is created and maintained by burning carbon. The worst-case scenarios predict coastal flooding, epic droughts, famine and huge storms, all around the world. Some experts say we have a twenty-year window to fix the problem, others say longer, but most concur that we are facing trouble. If we choose not to start dealing with our problems now then we face the inevitable endangerment to many species on this planet, as well as our own. Reducing all our carbon footprints is now a matter of survival.