• Contact Us
  • About
  • Updates
  • Apps
  • IT Consulting
  • Design and Development
  • Home
going green

field15 is going green! But, what does that mean, how are we doing it, and what does it mean for our clients?

What Does It Mean To Be Green?

As a term, "green" seems to mean very different things to different people, so our take on it might be different than yours. Likewise, as a topic, the range of ideas and practices that are called green seems to expand on a daily basis, and we're sure that there's some ground that we're simply not going to be able to cover. So, what exactly are we talking about?

  • Authenticity
    In all that we do as individuals and as a company, we try to maintain the highest levels of honesty and integrity possible. In fact, it starts before you ever even talk with us in-person. From our website to our marketing materials to our presence on social networks, we strive to paint a picture of ourselves, our skills, and our services that is as accurate and truthful as possible. If it turns out that we simply can't do the work you need done or that we feel that we're not the right fit for your project, we'll tell you up-front and we'll often even try to help you find someone better suited to your needs. Once a project is underway, you don't need to worry about bait-and-switch scams or upselling. The cost you signed off on in the quote is the price you'll see at the end.
  • Social Responsibility
    The way we see it, we're members of many different communities—Green Desk (where we rent our office space), DUMBO (the neighborhood in Brooklyn where we work), Brooklyn!, and so on, all the way up to the whole planet, solar system, and universe for that matter. All of these communities give something to us, and we believe that, where- and whenever possible, we have a responsibility to give back to them. This may mean something as little as cleaning up a communal area even when we're not the ones who made the mess or it may mean offering free seminars and help sessions to people in our area (something we're hoping to be able to do someday). In the end, though, it doesn't matter to us how small the action is or how little the community is, we're simply trying to keep in mind that we share space with others and even tiny gestures can make a huge difference.
  • Sustainability
    There's simply no way around it—as companies, as people, as living creatures, we all consume resources of various types. And, while we certainly recognize this, we're always striving to do what we can to use a little less, replenish where possible, and, at the very least, consume consciously. As you'll see below, field15 already does a lot to reduce our wastefulness, but there's always room for improvement!

How Is (or Isn't) field15 Green?

We definitely have a long way to go (which you'll see in our "Green Wish List" below), but we think we're off to a pretty good start. Here's what we're already doing to be green:

  • Green Desk. Our headquarters are located in Brooklyn's very own Green Desk office spaces, where environmental responsibility is the main focus. Along with much more, Green Desk provides us with energy efficient lighting, recycled/recyclable furniture, carbon offsets from NativeEnergy, and five trees planted for every new member.
  • No cars here! That's right, even in the depths of winter and the dog days of summer, our staff walks at least three miles a day and bikes four to get to and from work. And on the rare occasion when we can't walk or bike, we always use public transportation.
  • Energy Efficiency. We don't use a lot of hardware or office equipment here, but nearly everything we use is Energy Star qualified.
  • Less Paper. We're not paperless, but we do use less paper today than we did just a few months ago, and we're trying to use even less all the time.
  • Better Paper. From what fills our printer to the business cards we hand out, when we have to use paper we at least make sure it's recycled.
  • A Clean Working Environment. We recycle paper, plastic, glass, and aluminum, we use natural cleaning supplies that haven't been tested on animals, and we make our beds every morning.
  • Openness/Transparency. We maintain open and transparent business practices both internally and externally. To our staff, this means communication and questioning are encouraged and corporate policy isn't made in back-room deals. To our clients, this means that fees aren't hidden and data isn't locked into proprietary formats that only we can access.
  • Web Hosting Practices. We don't host our clients' websites ourselves, but we're proud of the hosting providers we do work with. Our own website (and many of the more complicated projects we work on) are hosted by Williams Consulting, Inc. (WCI). WCI uses SuperMicro servers with high efficiency (93%) power supplies, energy efficient CPUs, and fewer case fans requiring less electricity. In addition, they use Virtual Private Servers (VPS) which allow them to provide more hosting capacity while running fewer physical machines. WCI is also currently in the process of becoming 100% carbon neutral. For our less complicated projects, we recommend that our clients host their websites with DreamHost. DreamHost is a carbon neutral, feature-rich, affordable hosting provider that we feel confident recommending to our clients.
  • Donations to good causes. Through the DreamHost affiliate program, we receive $97 for every client of ours that chooses DreamHost as their hosting provider. We then take that $97 and let our client decide which one of five organizations we should donate the money to. The current choices are: Amnesty International, The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), The Nature Conservancy, The North Shore Animal League, or The World Wildlife Fund. (We've actually only recently started this program, so we haven't had the opportunity to put this into practice yet. We'll definitely post an update to our website, though, the first time we're able to make a donation with the referral fee payment.)

The reason we've called this our "Going Green" initiative is to underscore the belief that it's a continual process rather than something you do just once. Like most companies and people, though, we're limited not only by money but also by time. At the end of the day, there are only so many things we can afford to do at once, so we've started the following Green Wish List of things that we hope to be able to accomplish someday. Some of these will take higher precedence than others and some may change over time, but we'll be sure to keep this list current so that you can see where we are in reaching our goals.

  • Create a company blog where we can talk more in-depth about our Going Green initiative.
  • Get more involved with local and national social responsibility and sustainability organizations.
  • Start our own paperless-billing program.
  • Volunteer time and/or services with local charitable organizations on a regular basis.
  • Provide free technical seminars and/or lectures to our local community.
  • Host a tech meetup that focuses on ways to be green when you don't produce anything tangible.
  • Investigate certification programs from third-parties and try to get accredited where applicable.
  • Prepare an annual corporate sustainability report and make it publicly available.
  • Forge more external relationships with other like-minded companies.
  • Participate in outreach programs to not-so-like-minded companies.
  • Work with our hosting partner to begin providing green hosting plans to our clients.
  • Initiate a "quality of life" program for field15 staff to find ways to maintain excellent client service while also encouraging rich and fulfilling personal lives.

And, of course, in the spirit of openness and community, if you have a recommendation, think we could do better, or if you'd just like to ask us a question about how things are going, please feel free to contact us anytime.



going green