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?
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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.
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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.
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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:
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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.
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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.
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Energy Efficiency. We don't use a lot of hardware or
office equipment here, but nearly everything we use is
Energy Star qualified.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Create a company blog where we can talk more in-depth
about our Going Green initiative.
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Get more involved with local and national social
responsibility and sustainability organizations.
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Start our own paperless-billing program.
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Volunteer time and/or services with local charitable
organizations on a regular basis.
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Provide free technical seminars and/or lectures to our
local community.
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Host a tech meetup that focuses on ways to be green
when you don't produce anything tangible.
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Investigate certification programs from third-parties
and try to get accredited where applicable.
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Prepare an annual corporate sustainability report and
make it publicly available.
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Forge more external relationships with other like-minded
companies.
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Participate in outreach programs to not-so-like-minded
companies.
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Work with our hosting partner to begin providing green
hosting plans to our clients.
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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.
