This page contains a draft of a proposed HCoop Environmental Policy. As always, add comments or proposed revisions here.

1. Background

One of the defining SevenPrinciples of cooperatives is "Concern for Community," or more succinctly, Social Responsibility. A cooperative that ignores its social responsibility has ceased to be cooperative at all and has become a mutant, renegade firm. Environmental responsibility, then, is an extension of a cooperative's greater social responsibility.

The greatest single resistance to a solid environmental policy is the attitude that it will increase costs with no tangible benefit. In fact, it shall be seen that in some cases environmental discipline yields a direct cost saving, and where additional costs are incurred they are small for this type of business. Additionally, the ability to certify our business as green and powered by renewable energy gives us bragging rights that few other services in a crowded field can offer, and can draw in more business from environmentally conscious consumers. This is the best kind of advertising money can buy.

Moreover, the sooner we adopt a comprehensive policy, the easier it will be to stick to it, rather than doing it halfway and making excuses once we are large that we've never done it in the past.

On to the substance:

2. Power

Baseline: Zero carbon emissions, ideally from clean energy offsets.

How: Purchasing renewable energy credits or carbon offsets equal to the number of kW/hours consumed by HCoop servers.

Where: Two of the better options I have found:

• [http://www.nativeenergy.com/ NativeEnergy] WindBuilders.

• [http://www.carbonfund.org/ Carbonfund] Carbonfund offsets.

Immediate cost: between $0.05 and $0.15 per member monthly. Future cost: the same or lower, as hardware utilization rates increase, and more efficient hardware is acquired.

3. Hardware

Baseline: Ensure that no HCoop electronics end up in landfill.

How: At a minimum, send all hardware not sold or donated to a reputable recycling facility.

Where: Suggestions?

Immediate cost: none Future cost: Selling hardware could save money. Recycling could cost some money as hardware is retired.

4. Paper

Baseline: Minimize use of paper. Use only post-consumer recycled/tree free paper.

Where:

• [http://www.livingtreepaper.com/ Living Tree Paper] - post-consumer / hemp / flax paper

Immediate cost: none, HCoop's use of paper is currently limited to occasional mailings and corporate records. Future cost: cost savings through conservation. Paper is such a tiny portion of cost that nominal premium for recycled or tree-free paper is nothing.