People: Work = Fun

Lynyrd Skynyrd Concert 2010

All work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy … and owner Marty Smith ain’t having none of that. In Marco culture, we work hard and we play hard. Is it any wonder then that Marco was just named one of the 2010 “Best Places to Work” in western Pennsylvania again (we’ve had the distinction before) by The Pittsburgh Business Times?

One of the Marco team’s many get-togethers recently included a trip to see Lynyrd Skynyrd, with special guest Bret Michaels, play in concert for their Gods and Guns tour on July 11. A good time was had by all, but come Monday morning, the Marco team didn’t miss a beat. 

Despite the Sunday night fun, they reported for duty bright and early as usual.  

Planet: What’s in a Name

Sustainability is more than ‘design-speak.’

“If you ask a designer to name the most important issues facing design today,” wrote Alice Rawsthorn in The New York Times earlier this year, “one is bound to be sustainability, which is design-speak for helping the rest of us to live responsibly, ethically and environmentally.” Design-speak? “I wasn’t implying that designers and architects invented the term,” Rawsthorn tells me. “They didn’t. They simply appropriated it.” “Appropriate” means “to take exclusive possession of.” So we didn’t invent it—we just stole it.

“Our profession’s word of choice is ‘sustainable,’” Doug Steidl, past president of the AIA and new dean of architecture at Kent State University, wrote in 2005. “If ever there were a word more calculated to evoke misgivings … or, at best, a yawn, it has to be ‘sustainable.’” The term suggests sacrifice, Steidl complained, and architects should champion growth. “We cannot … be boxed in by our own language.”

we will all be judged by our triple bottom line accounting for all the systems we specify

Profits: Green your Office

OFFICE DEPOT: Smart Steps to a Greener Office

Why Green?

Every organization operates differently and has its own reasons for thinking about going green. It is important therefore to establish the priorities and goals of your greener office program. The key to prioritization is deciding what you care about as an organization. If cost-cutting is your organizations priority,then choosing green products and practices that deliver immediate cost savings is key - buying remanufactured ink and toner cartridges or switching to double-sided printing are simple,cost-saving solutions. You may be concerned about climate change, so your focus would be products and practices that reduce fuel, energy and related greenhouse gases. Or you may be concerned about potentially harsh chemicals in every day products - in which case you would seek certified non-toxic alternatives to your current product choices. 

Green your work process and you'll be on the way to a sustainable business.

People: What's in your vending machine?

Eat Healthy At the Vending Machine

Don’t let those seemingly “controlled” portions fool you!

Much of what's contained in those tiny, behind-the-glass packages, explains Elisa Zied, author of So What Can I Eat?!, is "deceptively high in fat, salt and calories." In other words, press the wrong button one too many times, and you can easily sabotage your own best dieting efforts. So what can you eat -- when you're too broke, stressed or pressed for time to hit the local health food store? Get an energy-boosting, low-cal quench for your quarters, say experts, with this moment-by-moment plan.

You are what you eat... what would you like to see in the machine?