You may have heard the terms going green, planet friendly, sustainable living, ecofriendly living, environmental sustainability, and others. All of these terms include the idea that in order for us and our descendants to enjoy a healthy, high-quality life, we need to keep our natural environment clean and healthy.
Employers who offer worksite wellness programs help employees adopt and maintain healthy behaviors. These programs encourage employees to make lifestyle choices that lead to better health and being good stewards of their own health. Environmental wellness is no different, except the choices are not focused internally on individual health but rather externally on the health of the planet.

• Our Environment Has a Big Impact on Our Health and Well-being Changes in our global environment can increase our risks of developing infectious diseases, floods, fires, and wild temperature swings. Poor air quality and unhealthy water at a local level has a direct impact on health. People who breathe poor quality air have a dramatically higher risk of heart attacks and heart disease, asthma, and bronchitis.

•  An Emphasis on Earth Friendly Practices is good for business. Many businesses have established sustainable, environmentally friendly practices as part of their core business strategies. There are plenty of resources on ways that corporations and other businesses can apply better environmental strategies and policies, allowing them to be more socially responsible and in preserving the environment. For example, most people do not know this but Amazon has built enormous wind and solar farms to power all the servers they host. Companies like Amazon are going green for a few reasons, First, the tax incentives and savings that can be earned from transitioning to renewable forms of energy can be quite significant. Companies can save power costs by designing more energy efficient manufacturing processes, by reducing waste, including less use of paper, packaging and electricity. Worksites that bet on long-term sustainability and social responsibility are winning strategies, as a healthy environment means healthy employees.

 

Employers Who Conserve Save Money Conserving resources helps the planet and your wallet. When your employees conserve, you give them a chance to think globally and act locally. Conserving water, electricity, paper, plastics, and gasoline means we spend less. For example, LED lights provide the same light quality at about 1/10th the electricity. That is a savings of 90%. The cost of solar energy has dropped dramatically, especially with tax incentives from state and federal organizations. Recycling is a great way to conserve limited resources and reuse what we have rather than throwing it in the trash. Depending on where you live, certain states will give you money back when you turn in glass and plastic bottles, while other states have implemented comprehensive recycling programs. It’s also important to conserve water, especially if you live in a dry area. Whether it’s watering your yard or using water in your home, the less you use, the more money you save.

The easiest and most natural way to create an environmentally friendly workplace and promote environmental wellness to employees is by including it in your wellness program offerings. Make sure you have adequate leadership support and a passionate committee. Every worksite has its unique characteristics; a good environmental wellness committee can help come up with strategies and plans and are specific to your work.