|
MEMBER PROFILE:
Kennedy and Coe, LLC
Trying to list all of the green practices and activities at Kennedy and Coe might require an entire newsletter.
For several years now, the firm has placed a heavy emphasis on saving the environment. Implementing numerous daily, in-office programs and organizing special events have helped the firm go green in a big way. The most obvious efforts include using compact light bulbs instead of fluorescent, printing less paper by using electronic communication and data storage and turning off the lights when a person leaves the room or their office.
Throughout Kennedy and Coe, there are recycle boxes available for newspapers, magazines, aluminum, glass and plastic - all of which have been used extensively. When the need to print documents is necessary, the firm also buys recycled paper and refills toner cartridges. There are no Styrofoam cups offered inside Kennedy and Coe walls and computers are shut down every day, especially on Fridays, to conserve ene rgy.
But what about the big green picture? Kennedy and Coe's Dixie Larson says the firm constantly seeks opportunities to hold events and support programs that will remind and reiterate the importance of going green to employees. One example was during Earth Day, in April of this year. During the lunch hour, all Wichita firm employees turned off the lights to conserve electricity. The firm served lunch to staff during its inaugural Lights Out Lunch in order to keep employees from driving, thus reducing the amount of fuel burned during the typical lunch-hour rush. Employees can and did work from their desk using natural light, a feature designed for the Kennedy and Coe building when it was constructed in 2008 at The Waterfront.
"The Lights Out Lunch was a way to remind our employees to go green at every opportunity," Dixie Larson, principal at Kennedy and Coe, said. "Several of our employees consistently work without lights because they recognize there is sufficient lighting from our office windows. Our entire Wichita office works from light-sensors that turn off when there is no movement or activity."
No one at Kennedy and Coe can miss the company's dedication to Wichita's green business organization. In Jan. 2010, the firm made a value-based commitment to develop and implement Green Biz Wichita (GBW), an effort now comprised of 85 businesses that adhere to green practices. The organization is currently the first business-to-business group in the Wichita area to specifically promote green initiatives. As each GBW member and newsletter recipient knows, the organization offers local businesses easy ways to practice sustainability including quarterly education and networking events.
As a founding member of GBW, Kennedy and Coe encourages green practices at the office but also to every employee. The firm provides a personal and at-work "go green" checklist with a complete listing of ways to preserve planet Earth. Larson says employees have responded positively to the checklists and the firm has identified and tracked its results, including a recent recognition of saving 529 trees in 2010.
"Through our firm-wide efforts to reduce the amount of paper we use and recycle all paper products, we were able to save 529 trees from being cut down," Larson says. "That makes us very proud and motivates our people to do more at work and at home to protect our natural resources and make environmentally-conscious decisions."
While the firm will continue to promote green practices by providing tax returns on CDs recycling furniture and old equipment by donating it to charity and using real silverware and ceramic coffee cups instead of throw-away items, there are still ways Kennedy and Coe will push the green movement. Simply put, Larson says Kennedy and Coe's emphasis on going green supports the firm's mission to enhance the well being of its clients and people.
"Being conscious of the environment, the impact we have on Earth and doing something about it, rather than just talking about it, is a win-win for everyone," she says. --
|