Going Green With NBC

By now you know that going green is at the top of my personal agenda, and when I see companies that are trying to make a difference, I try my best to support them. I have recently noticed the many public service commercials on NBC promoting their "Green is Universal" program. I decided to take a closer look at it. You should too. Go to www.nbc.com/green. You won't believe what they're doing.

I'll tell you a little of what they're doing, but you really have to go to the web site and spend some time perusing it to see all the wonderful tips and tricks they have to offer, and see how they have their whole company involved in going green, from on camera stars to the children in the day care they offer their employees at Universal City. They must have dozens of full time employees to not only plan and update the website, but to put out blogs and useful information on so many subjects. They offer tips on going green and tricks to help reduce your footprint.

For example, washing clothes in cold water not only keeps your clothes looking fresh, but it saves 90% of the energy as washing in warm or hot water. Most of the energy is used to heat the water. What a simple change.

Properly inflated tires can save you about 8 cents per gallon. That adds up pretty quickly, and it doesn't require anything more than your maintaining your car properly.

Unpluging appliances when not using them can save you up to 20%. This is a little inconvenient for some appliances, but things like phone chargers, coffee makers and toasters that are not used all the time are easy to unplug. It all adds up.

Another interesting thing NBC is doing in their daycare program. They are turning waste items that would usually be thrown away into craft projects for the kids. They have a small garden for the kids, so hopefully with this kind of early training in protecting the earth, we will be on our way to raising a generation that has more respect for natural resources.

I don't know how many other big corporations have big projects like this as part of their mission, but I applaud NBC for taking a leadership role in this regard. We often think of big corporations in such a negative way, but projects like this show me that there is a human side to big corporations. Maybe they really are people!!