A few weeks ago, a friend of ours asked if I would put together some thoughts on the challenges we have faced in creating a “green business”. The result: a three part series on why we decided to go green with some or all of it to be included in the next issue of Carolina Mountain Living…enjoy!

So you wanna go green?

First thing you need to do is ask yourself the question: “Why do I want to become a green business?” The second question you need to ask is: “What makes a business green?”

We purchase green coffee that is primarily Organic & Fair Trade. We designed a van that uses solar panels, propane, and bio-diesel to power our coffee equipment, which was right in line with one of our goals of being an “eco-friendly” business.

However, that didn’t make us a green business…at least by our standards. We believe that in order to be a “green business”, we need to focus on the amount of energy used and our carbon footprint, not to mention putting to use the three Rs of conservation: Recycle, Reuse, and Reduce.

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