The real issue for small to medium business is how to cut costs and reduce waste.

We are entering a world where there are shortages of oil and other forms of energy and it is all getting more expensive.

We have polluted our atmosphere and we need to slow the rate of pollution down and governments around the world are setting up greenhouse gas emission restrictions.

The real issue for small to medium business is how to cut costs and reduce waste (all types or waste and that includes energy, materials and human effort. Business also needs to do this without an extra time commitment. Or cash flow to make changes because business also has to cope with global financial chaos.

So why do businesses need to both with carbon trading right now, with all the other problems they face?

Like it or not, “believe” in in global warming or not, we have serious atmospheric pollution! This is measurable fact. We have changed the chemical composition of the atmosphere by pouring carbon dioxide, methane and other gases into the atmosphere for form an invisible (but measurable “doona” of pollution in our atmosphere holding heat in. This is unarguable and is putting our children and grandchildren’s future at risk. We ignore this at THEIR peril.

Around the world governments are bringing in Emission Trading Schemes and surveys show that most businesses have no idea what that will involve - it is yet another demand.

If you are a business owner I'll bet you are already tired of balancing home, work, increasing costs and increasing environmental regulation and reporting.

BUT reports show consumers increasingly patronise businesses that show they consider the impact of their business on the environment. This is a growing market segment and that is important in tough economic times.

All around the world people want to help the environment. In Australia this is over 90 % and surveys show more than 50% of us are even prepared to pay more for environmentally friendly products and services In fact most people (53% in UK, 63$ in the USA, 45% in China, believe that tackling climate change will benefit the economy

OK so it means we need to make some changes now but many of these will actually save money once we get our head around them and decide that these often minor changes are ok.

In fact many of the changes are painless and easy!

Go for a "grumpy" walk around your business once or twice every day and turn off things that are not being used and make a list of other ways you can save energy and reduce waste.

Jean Cannon is an enviro-entrepreneur -both a scientist and a business person and has been both for over 20 years. So if you are tired and confused by all the hype about global warming, climate change and the need to reduce our carbon emissions and you just want to look at the reality of what is happening and how it affects you in your business and your life, get my Free Report “Getting Past The Hype To Look At Reality” from www.carbonsteps.com

Author's Bio: 

It is easy to be green! Jean Cannon helps you to get past the hype and look at reality that we all live beyond our environmental means with consequences that will harm our children unless we reduce our carbon footprint. Jean is a grandmother and deeply committed to helping to improve the legacy we are leaving our children. Jean’s philosophy is that by going green you can make more money. She is both an environmental scientist and a pragmatic business person – an enviro entrepreneur. She is a consultant, auditor, trainer, author and speaker helping business to reduce both their costs and their carbon emissions by taking small guided steps. Her clients vary from those with over a thousand people on staff to single families and many obtain the true green international certification ISO 14001. Jean’s commitment to reducing her own carbon footprint has taken her online and she works with many clients in widely scattered online groups. Jean has numerous awards for her work including for her online training. While her major focus is environmental, she also helps her clients integrate quality, occupational health and safety and food safety. She has now added an additional stream as onlinejeanie.com to help clients to expand or develop more services into downloadable training products and work through the whole sea of websites, shopping carts and more in a straightforward “non-geeky” way. Her underlying thesis is that if you can’t keep it simple it won’t work.