Tell Your Story On Your Website

Sustainability officers and those of us working on greening our operations naturally focus on the inside “walls” of our organization. What we risk overlooking is the value and importance of letting our public constituencies know what we are up to. It’s important because done right, we are saving money, at least in the long run, if not the short. Most, if not all, government offices are subject to laws, executive orders, and public policy directives to conserve energy, to purchase recycled content supplies and products, and to improve waste management practices among other things. So it’s good accountability to inform the interested public about your office’s compliance efforts and accomplishments. We built a simple page for our Attorney General’s public Internet website which includes a statement from the Attorney General on global warming, our department’s policy to adopt and advance green business practices, and highlights of our accomplishments to date. 

An Internet page on your green program has value for your agency or department director, be they the head of the city’s IT department, the county children’s services agency, or the state Attorney General. Your office’s green efforts exist because of support from the top, and you can be certain that he or she cares that the public is aware of all the good work that is being done under their leadership to conserve limited resources, both natural and financial, and to “do no harm.”

Our green page is linked to our Environment and DOJ Careers pages. In fact the idea to have a green page on our Internet came to me when I read a report that recent college graduates have a more positive view of a prospective job if the employer has adopted green business practices or if the employer’s office is located in a green building. Click here to read the report published by the World at Work. 

Our page doesn’t require a lot of maintenance. We update it when we have a significant accomplishment to report. We also use it to showcase our annual report, third party certifications, e.g. LEED, and awards, such as our prized 2009 Going Green award from the Conference of Western Attorneys General and the first Green IT award at the 2008 Best of California event hosted by the Center for Digital Government. You can check out our green page here: http://ag.ca.gov/greenoffice/index.php