It’s Easy Being Green

One year ago today, in honor of Earth Day, I published 12 Steps To A More Eco-Friendly Dance Studio. Below are four of these tips:

• Go Paperless — In this age of technology, going paperless isn’t as difficult as it seems. Studios are beginning to move newsletters and other communications online.
• Carpool — Start a carpool network. We live in a fast-paced world but students are very conscious of environmental issues. Consider tapping this resource and challenge your students to come up with a plan for organizing the car pool (or to brainstorm more green ideas for the studio). You might be surprised at their willingness to embrace your efforts in this area. However, if you want to go that extra mile, consider offering some incentive with a discount or coupons to those who participate in an organized carpool.
• Community Clean-Up — Adopt a highway or join other community clean-up efforts. This is great for your city and the environment. Additionally, showing an interest in your local region is good for business.
• Buy Organic, Recycled, and Eco-Friendly Products — From the snacks you offer, to the paper towels you use, to the cleaning products you put on your floors, there are plenty of options for going green. Check TheGreenOffice.com or Amazon Green for electronics, lighting, and cleaning supplies (not to mention digital music and now books).

Speaking of Amazon, you might be interested in knowing that they also offer a trade-in program for DVDs, video games, electronics, and for you college students, text books. I’ve not tried this myself as we have a local business that buys back media. If you don’t, or if you are upgrading to blu-ray, Amazon may be an option.

Anyway, there are six more, really excellent (and really easy), suggestions for going green in the original 12 Steps To A More Eco-Friendly Dance Studio post. Click here to jump to that article and read them all!

Earth Day Threads

If it is earth-friendly dancewear you are after, I would normally point you to a variety of yoga apparel companies. However there are a few dance clothing manufacturers offering organic options. Trienawear’s Entropy, Harmonie’s Delicate Balance knitwear (above left), and Just Marvy has expounded upon their Pink/Green motif with the cute little “earth is your stage” logo (above right) for their organic cotton/recycled polyester warm-ups. The pictured items above can be found at All About Dance, along with a few more items in their Eco-Friendly category.

More Organic…

A while back  I featured RelaxPack on the blog, a company producing organic and very useful packs for soothing aches, pains, and sore muscles with herbal and heat/cold therapy. I urge you to check these out if you missed the post – just click on the image to the right.

[Update! I like RelaxPack so much that I'm now an affiliate. If you click to their site from here and decide to purchase, you are helping to keep the free content flowing on Dance Advantage. How cool is that?]

Do you have some green tips to share?

Do you shop for organic clothing or other organic products?

How are you celebrating Earth Day?

12 Steps to a More Eco-Friendly Dance Studio

Happy Earth Day!

12 Ideas for Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling in the Dance Studio Environment

1. Collect and Recycle

Many of us recycle at home but forget about our workplace. Collect plastic, aluminum, glass, paper, and cardboard if you can. If there is no collection for your area or facility, check into possible drop-off sites and mobilize teachers, parents, and students to see that it gets there.

Consider recycling CDs and cases, as well! With music going completely digital there are probably a lot of these lying around the studio, not to mention all of the burned CDs that get made and tossed. Check this article for ideas about Where to Recycle CD and DVD Cases or try http://www.cdrecyclingcenter.com.

2. Turn Off Lights and Office Machines

Encourage students and staff to turn off lights whenever the studios, bathrooms, or offices are not in use. If your space has the option, try using only half of the lights available or installing dimmer switches. And, replace bulbs,as they burn out with energy-efficient ones.

Also, shut down computers and other office equipment when not in use, purchasing Energy Star labeled devices when you can.

3. Avoid Air Conditioning

Embrace the sweat and resist the urge to immediately snap on the A/C on hot days. Check out this article in Dance Teacher about Choosing the Right Temperature for Your Studio. And, don’t forget to remind students to stay hydrated!

4. Reduce Water Bottle Waste

Speaking of hydration, I know that some of you probably sell bottled water at your studio. However, it’s a no-brainer that all that waste is a real downside. Consider providing filtered water and/or encouraging students to bring a refillable from home. Perhaps you could sell containers with the studio logo to make up for not selling bottled water.

5. Reduce Water Use

Consider installing low-flow toilets or using the ol’ brick-in-the-tank method. Plus, do your best to keep up with maintenance of dripping faucets.

6. Go Paperless

In this age of technology, going paperless isn’t as difficult as it seems. Studios are beginning to move newsletters and other communications online. From increased communication through a studio blog to interacting with customers on your studio’s Facebook page or group, technology is making it much easier to go paperless. In fact, the free teleseminar that I am involved with at DanceStudioOwner.com will include discussion about how to transition your registration and billing systems online. This event begins TODAY with yours truly kicking things off. The topics are so timely, please don’t miss it. Update: Obviously this teleseminar is over but all the interviews and discussions are still available to members at DanceStudioOwner.com. In addition, the download of my interview with Suzanne on how a studio blog can boost your business is free to download when you subscribe to Dance Advantage.

7. Print Wisely

When you must print, use both sides of the paper whenever possible, use the back sides of old documents for faxes, drafts, etc, use the draft setting on your printer when you can, and consider recycling your ink cartridges or toner.

8. Carpool

Start a carpool network. We live in a fast-paced world but students are very conscious of environmental issues. Consider tapping this resource and challenge your students to come up with a plan for organizing the car pool (or to brainstorm more green ideas for the studio). You might be surprised at their willingness to embrace your efforts in this area. However, if you want to go that extra mile, consider offering some incentive with a discount or coupons to those who participate in an organized carpool.

9. Set Up a Gently Used Consignment or Trading List

Young dancers grow out of dancewear and shoes constantly and prices for brand new stuff can get expensive. Again, mobilize your customer base and work together to create a system in which students/parents can offer used items for resale or trade. Frugal parents will thank you.

10. Community Clean-Up

Adopt a highway or join other community clean-up efforts. This is great for your city and the environment. Additionally, showing an interest in your local region is good for business.

11. Buy Organic, Recycled, and Eco-Friendly Products

From the snacks you offer, to the paper towels you use, to the cleaning products you put on your floors, there are plenty of options for going green. Check TheGreenOffice.com or the following link, if you’re not sure where to Find Eco-Friendly Office Supplies.

12. Say No to Faux

Nothing brightens up a space like real, growing things. Consider bringing live plants into your studio environment to cool, humidify, and refresh the air.

What are some ways your studio is “going green?”

What are the pros and cons of the above 12 steps?

I’m looking forward to your thoughts and input!