Go Green Campaign

Business feasibility study can be defined as a controlled process for identifying problems and opportunities, determining objectives, describing situations, defining successful outcomes and assessing the range of costs and benefits associated with several alternatives for solving a problem. Business Feasibility Study is used to support the decision making process based on a cost benefit analysis of the actual business or project viability. In business feasibility study there are some aspects that we have to look at, such as; marketing aspect, operational aspect, human resource aspect, tax and law aspect, environmental aspect, financial aspect, and etc. The aspect of business feasibility study focused on in this paper is environmental aspect.

Environmental aspect is to see whether a business is feasible or not to run in a certain type of environment. The environment in which the business will be run must be analyzed carefully. This is due to the environment on the other hand may be a chance of business to be run, but on the other hand can also be a threat environment for business development. The existence of a business can affect the environment, society and the environment both ecological environment where business will be run.

A business can cause a variety of activities so as to impact the environment around the site. Changes in people’s lives as a result of business activity can be increasingly crowded locations around the location of the business, the emergence of social vulnerability, community disease, also lifestyle changes as a result of the influx of workers from outside the region. Environmental aspect is closely related to the environment around the company itself which refers to the analysis of AMDAL/ EIA (Environmental Impact Assesment).

The purpose of EIA is to maintain and improve the quality of the environment and the pollution that suppress the negative impact be as low as possible. Thus EIA is needed to make a decision on the implementation of activities that have an impact on the environment. One of the programs that support EIA is the Go Green Campaign. As we know that our world is now facing global warming and it is getting really serious recently, therefore not only community, individuals, and government who are concern with global warming but the industries are concern as well in preventing global warming. The businesses and companies world is now beginning to focus on running and promoting greening activities 3Rs, which are Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle to save the environment.

The benefits of Go Green Campaign are lower cost, healthier lives, a more sustainable world, better quality of life, and development in new areas. One of the most evident benefits of going green is that it can help us cut cost, whether as an individual, a household, a community or a nation. When we conserve energy and resources, by not wasting water and electricity and adopting green traveling tips, we help to reduce the amount of money that needs to be spent on energy and resources.

As more and more people seek to live a green life by reducing the pollution and carbon footprints they leave behind, we can look forward to better quality air, a cleaner environment and better health. In addition, the health of our environment also has an impact on the quality of our food and ultimately our health. It would be hard to imagine how we could remain healthy if we are consuming polluted drinking water and food contaminated with chemicals (eg. fish with heavy metal contamination, vegetables exposed to acid rain, etc) for long periods. By keeping our air and environment, cleaner, we are actually building a healthier environment.

One of the most important benefits of going green is a more sustainable world. At the rate that we are consuming the world’s resources, polluting the earth and fueling global warming, and destroying the earth’s ecosystem, in no time, we would be left with nothing (no clean air, water, land and food) but an unlivable world beyond repair. On the day that we reach such a stage, there would be no material comfort or economic growth to talk about at all. This is because lives would be threatened, there would be no clean air, no clean drinking water, no food, and probably even no safety from the harsh climate that would have changed beyond recognition. In order to prevent that from happening, we need to start adopting green practices in our daily lives, as well as encourage others around us to do the same.

Living a green life can actually offer us a better quality of life on earth. To truly experience the benefits of going green, you need to look beyond material luxuries. This is because two of the very key principles of going green are actually conservation and the reduction of consumption and waste, which means to use and consume the earth’s resources with care, and not over-indulge in excessive material luxuries. Hence, as more and more people start living a green life, there will be greater drive for developments in the area of green energies, recycling and other green technologies, as well as a market for eco-friendly products and services. In turn, these developments would make it easier for people to adopt green living practices. A positive reinforcement loop would be created for a green way of life.

One of the companies that have been working on Go Green Campaign is Starbucks Coffee. The premier coffee shop shares the passion of its customers when it comes to helping save the environment and working on ways that would retain their quality of service but reduce negative environmental impacts. Starbucks has done energy conservation, water conservation, and reduce & recycle. For the energy conservation, Starbucks is actively campaigning against climate change by purchasing and using renewable energy, which represents the $20 of the total electricity of their stores in Canada and the United States. They’re also investing in more Earth friendly lights, which were developed in partnership with GE. Another key factor in their plans is that they are also working on improving the efficiency of their heating, cooling and ventilation systems. As such, progress has definitely proved to be a guiding point, particularly in the year 2009, when the company’s use of electricity went down by 1.7%, as compared to the year before.

When it comes to water conservation, Starbucks started to use dipper well systems to clean their spoons used to produce their coffee drinks. There are also newly installed manual operated hand meters in its US stores that have cut water usage by 150 gallons a day. Also in 2009, Starbucks cut its water usage by 4.1% in lieu of its 2015 goal of trimming water consumption by 25%. Currently, Starbucks is finding new alternatives to the dipper well system they’re using so that the company will keep reducing their water usage in their stores. Lastly, for reduce and recycle, Starbucks is working and finding ways to recycle their cups.

Starbucks actually has the goal of making all of their cups reusable or recyclable by the year 2015. In almost of the outlets around Starbucks, they are encouraging their customers to use their own mugs or tumblers that they purchased from Starbucks for their beverages and even offer 10% discount incentive to encourage the active participation of their customers in the ‘reduce waste’ campaign. Through the exercise of go green movement, Starbucks could save 300,000 trees and reduce garbage truck 109 cups of coffee each year.

To a large extent, Go Green Campaign is important and useful in saving the earth and preventing the global warming as it is mostly about reuse, reduce, and recycle. Reuse is actually an easy task to do, as we only reuse the things that we already have and it is still usable instead of getting a new one. Reusing items may lead to reducing unnecessary harmful effect. Recycling is important for the environment because recycling reduces greenhouse gas issue and helps stem the dangers of global climate change. If people do not recycle, there would be habitat loss for the many species of magnificent creatures that accompanying us.

Recycling reduces the need for raw materials so that the rainforests can be preserved. Possibly a more important reason to recycle is because it will reduce pollution risks in our society. The most obvious way is by keeping waste out of landfills, which introduces contaminants and other toxins into groundwater systems. Recycling also keeps materials out of incinerators, which pollutes the air and create severe ash residue, which is very dangerous for the health. Furthermore, reduce financial output in the economy, making products from raw materials costs much more than if they were made from recycled products.

In my opinion, in order to run a business and to make sure that it is feasible is that we have to look and understand clearly about the aspects in business feasibility. In this case, environmental aspect, which related to EIA in conserving the environment. A Go Green Campaign is one of the best ways to conserve the environment and prevent the earth from global warming. As Go Green Campaign is mostly about the 3Rs (Reuse, Reduce, Recycle). These 3Rs are simple yet it helps a lot in conserving the environment. Starbucks has done well in its Go Green Campaign, but I think if they can serve vegetarian products it can go greener. Thus, Starbucks can make their company more environmentally friendly and it is also a new market way for Starbucks to make profit.