These guidelines express our commitments and actions towards operating an environmentally and socially sustainable business, one that benefits not just ourselves and our clients, but also our communities and nature.
We live at an important time in history, in which our choices and priorities greatly effect not only our own lives, but also people around the world, and future generations. Our relationships with each other, our communities, and the environment are vital to our personal and collective thriving, and we believe that being a good business leader today means living and leading by our values.
Our care for each other and the environment motivates us to put what we most value first, always prioritizing people and the planet, knowing that profits result when we put our care and attention to every detail and relationship in and around our business.
This document and the guidelines outlined here are used in our business, and shared with our clients, partners, and communities; a guide for how to ground our values in specific actions and impactful choices. We invite you to read on to learn about what matters to us, and perhaps to gather ideas which you might integrate into your home or business to join us in taking responsibility for our one planet, together.
Environmental Impact
We follow a three-factor approach to minimizing the environmental impact of our business, focused on our commitment to: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.
Our goal is to minimize unnecessary consumption of important natural resources, like clean water and air, healthy top soil, and to protect trees, wildlife and habitat.
To reduce our use of power, we use energy efficient lighting and appliances, and weather seal windows and doors. Further reductions are achieved through insulated walls, windows, water heater, and plumbing. To reduce the energy consumption from our digital operations, we use a web host who is not only renewably powered, but who generates 3x the energy they need in order to supply more green energy back to the grid.
Minimizing waste happens throughout the business, in almost every facet of operation. Some of our main strategies are to first reduce, then reuse, then recycle, since ultimately using less of a resource is better than finding good ways to reuse to recycle. Some of the main ways we are conscious of reducing our use of precious natural resources are through reducing water use and ensuring we don’t pollute it, using digital options instead of paper, using reusable containers instead of disposable, minimizing the impact of our printing, and reducing our use of packaged and single use products.
Here are some specifics:
- Avoid single use products, and when available source reused, reusable, compostable, recyclable, and recycled products and materials.
- Use non-VOC or low-VOC paints, and other low-toxicity alternatives in building materials.
- By replacing as many of our paper-intensive processes as possible with online document management and tablets, we are reducing our need for trees, and keeping important carbon sequestering and habitat providing forests intact.
- The real estate industry uses a lot of paper, and we strive to reduce our use of this vital resource. When planning any printing job, we aim to minimize environmental impact by:
- Printing the least number possible,
• On the smallest sized FSC-certified, recycled paper,
• Using black and white, water-based ink,
• Single-spaced, wide-margins,
• Powered by renewable energy,
• Using reusable templates,
• Promoting sustainable values.
We coordinate clothing swaps and spring-cleaning donations to local groups. We invest in higher purchase price equipment and materials when comparing cheaper but shorter lasting options. Once we have done everything we can to reduce and reuse, we focus on minimizing our contribution to the landfill by recycling the rest.
To protect clean water and soil, we purchase only biodegradable, organic and ecologically sensitive products, including soaps, detergents and cleaning products. We try to generate zero hazardous waste and avoid pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides. We use reusable containers, avoid packaging, and minimize waste to landfill.
Social Sustainability
We care about our local community, and want to make it a better place for our children, and to preserve its culture and environmental legacy for generations to come.
We believe in buying local, supporting local business and reducing our use of foreign or imported products. Keeping the money in the community increases everyone’s quality of life, and ensures that everyone who wants to work has as many options as possible.
We focus on the Salt Lake City region because we know success and sustainability comes from relationships. By creating a community of people who trust us to deliver on our promises and put their interests at the top of our goals, we ensure a thriving and mutually beneficial future for everyone who participates.
Attention to Detail Realty is an equal opportunity organization, working with anyone who shares our dedication to treating each other and the planet with respect, and a commitment to leaving things better than we found them.
To support our team to reduce their environmental footprint, we have chosen an office location which reduces commutes and is easily accessible by public transportation. We allow for flextime and work from home. We compensate above market because we want our team to be healthy, happy, and productive, both at the office, and back at home with their families. We believe that healthy communities start with healthy people, who take care of each other, and who go the extra mile when it counts.
Economics beyond the Triple Bottom Line
Beyond our social sustainability commitments to our team and community, we are proud to support the work of organizations working to create a more sustainable future for everyone. A portion of our profits support Upward Spirals, a nonprofit regenerative thinktank who helps eco-social entrepreneurs grow sustainable and globally impactful businesses.
By helping them grow their programs, we’re participating in the creation of a more regenerative and sustainable future which benefits people, the environment, and social benefit organizations around the world.
By sharing resources, making it easier to live more ecologically, and supporting each other, our businesses and relationships become an opportunity to create much more than the sum of its parts. Our collective contributions create no less than the possibility of a future which works for everyone, and an economy that regenerates the environment through living our values.
Additionally we follow a set of policies and guidelines in our business which is how we vote for the world we want, through how we acquire and allocate the resources needed to run the business.
- Consider the life-cycle cost, embodied energy, and quality/durability of materials used in building, energy production, and operations.
- Research product ingredients and their environmental impacts to identify less harmful alternatives.
- Integrate supplier’s feedback on ways to improve the impact of materials or processes.
- Inform staff, suppliers, clients, and local community about our environmental priorities.
- Buy local whenever possible, and be willing to pay higher purchase prices for products and services that match our environmental and social values.
- Purchase in bulk, avoid packaging, and use reusable containers.
Thank you for using your time to learn more about Attention to Detail Realty’s Green Guidelines, we hope you find them both insightful and inspiring!
–Mallory Call, and the Attention to Detail Realty Team