From the Economist to the New York Times to you friends on Facebook, there is talk and petitions going around to bring back the Victory Garden at the White House.  Well, as of yesterday, ABC announced that there will be a White House garden.

Why bring up gardens in a business website?
Think it is a silly idea?

We bring it up because gardens represent an interesting set of paradigm shifts for home economics and business: burden to opportunity; obscure notion to practical choices; and unexpected opportunities from being practical. It is opportunity in sustainability.

A typical Victory Garden can produce $2100-$2500 worth of produce on a 1/25 of an acre of land.  Want to look into the economics of one such garden, check out Roger Dorians economic breakdown of his harvest on a his home plot.   Business have a lot more land/ surface to work with.  In some cases equivalent to a small farm, especially if you include the roof.

So, How big is your company’s roof or back lawn?

Business gardens like Victory Gardens have their own perks/ hidden opportunities.  Here are just some practical reasons to rethink your green business landscape or building design and go garden and/or go green roof.

Health – Physical:

• Gets people outside
• Gets people exercise, especially if they tend the garden as well
• Provides healthy, local, organic food
• Alternative to smoking
• Energizes people

Health – Emotional

• Digging in the dirt reduces stress
• occupational therapy to assist in decreasing levels of anxiety, stress, or depression.
• connect with the earth
• promote relaxation.
• Can be very social

Business/Productivity:

• Reduce stress
• Moral booster ~Watching things grow even when business may be stagnant
• increase creativity
• reintroduces people to natures way of solving problems – biomimicry

Savings/Money/Donations

• lunch programs augmented by low cost healthy food
• reduced lawn and landscaping maintenance
• If integrated into a green roof – insulation, cooling effect, water runoff collector all can be realized as significant cost savings in the form of gas, electric, water, and sewage bills.
• Donations to the local food pantry
• Supplemental food for your workers
• Increased health = lower absenteeism due to illness, more productivity, higher energy, lower health care costs . . .
• Lowered food costs if company supplements/provides for corporate cafeteria.
• Near zero transportation cost for food delivery
• Employee perk – Community Sponsored Agriculture CSA – grown at work (hmm)

CSR benefits:

• Organic, fresh produce provided to food pantries, schools, cafeterias, or community lunch programs.
• Healthier dining options in the cafeteria
• Reduce the number of pesticides used in traditional landscaping
• If integrated with rain barrels and/or green roof technology reduced water consumption
• Reduce carbon emissions for food.  Traditional food travels on average 1500 miles.  to perhaps that in inches.
• Watching things grow even when business may be stagnant – moral booster.
• Community building – employees and/or community coming together for productive reasons.

Note about Green Roofs.  Green Roofs are probably our favorite sustainable building concepts to talk about. (pics) They represent truly elegant and practical solutions and opportunities to building from reducing heat islands and providing natural insulation which reduces cooling and heating costs to rain water control/capture/reuse to aesthetically pleasing retreats for works or in some cases working farms for the restaurants in the building.   The York Hotel rooftop garden in the heart of Toronto has an herb garden and bee aviary that supplies the building’s three restaurants with fresh herbs, salad greens and honey.

Still think business planting gardens is a silly idea?

Conclusions:

Opportunity Squared: What is the triple bottom line impact?

• People/Social: see health statements above and opportunities for supporting local food programs
• Planet/Environmental: reduce carbon footprint (transportation of food, heat/cooling of building), fewer pesticides and chemicals treating lawns, recaptured or more efficient use of water.  (May even feed local urban rabbit population)
• Profit/Economic: health cost savings, opportunity for employee perk, lowered energy and water (if managed properly) costs

Bonus – happier, healthier employees, who are eating well, getting exercise and are reducing stress – for pennies on the dollar.

This is what opportunity sustainability is all about.   Being sustainable is often about doing practical things that we’ve either forgotten or haven’t thought of and in doing so, finding an abundance of opportunities.

Opportunity Squared is a series of OpportunitySustainability.com
Copyright ©2009 Matthew Rochte, Opportunity Sustainability℠- Share with attribution
Opportunity Sustainability℠ is a Midwest-based sustainability and corporate responsibility consulting firm specializing in green innovation and seeing opportunities where others see burdens. Matthew Rochte, an experienced, operations-based sustainability consultant, works with company management to navigate and realize the opportunities in taking their company green and growing sustainably.