Don’t let your business lose green because it wasn’t green enough in the eyes of the law. Earth Day should serve as a reminder for businesses of the high costs involved in environmental-related fines.

The Indiana Chamber’s Environmental Compliance Handbook has been updated and the sixth edition is currently stocked. This publication, authored by a team of attorneys from Bingham McHale, LLP, includes several major changes since the previous edition.

Additionally, the Indiana Chamber also offers Environmental Regulations updates so you can keep up on environmental law changes from week to week.

The Indiana Chamber’s conferences team wants to help your HR staff be the best it can be:

In the ever-changing human resources field, it can sometimes feel as if you’re driving laps without a pit crew. Attend the 44th Annual HR Conference & Expo on May 6-7 at the Indianapolis Marriott East and accelerate your company to victory lane. Choose from over 20 educational sessions on topics including blogs and personal web pages, immigration, safety and HR, wellness, health plan cost-savings and more. Experts on the various state and federal rules and regulations will have you seeing that checkered flag.

To register, click here.

Numerous headlines regarding global climate change appear in newspapers around the world every day.  Former Vice President Al Gore and other leading environmentalists have been warning that we are headed for a man-made global catastrophe if our interaction with the planet doesn’t drastically change. More recently, environmental experts such as April 29 Economic Club of Indiana speaker Steven Hayward, have publicly disagreed with Gore and company.

Hayward, an environmental researcher holding numerous prestigious fellowships and an adjunct professorship at Georgetown University, starred in a film rebutting Gore’s claims of pending disaster as a result of climate change.  Hayward is of the belief that the planet goes through natural periods of warming and cooling and is not tremendously influenced by the activity of human beings.

His position on the issue, shared by an increasing number of scientists – such as MIT’s Richard Lindzen – has earned him both criticism and praise. Hayward plans to present his research, "The Unseriousness of Climate Change Policy: Confronting the Economic and Energy Realities” at the Economic Club of Indiana luncheon on April 29.   

Agree or disagree? Either way, you should hear what Hayward has to say. It’s from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 29 at the Indiana Convention Center.

If you have not jumped on the green bandwagon yet (quick, there might be room to squeeze in), the next edition of BizVoice magazine is for you.

If you’ve added the word green to your daily vocabulary and cannot be accused of greenwashing, there will be plenty of interesting stories and analysis for you too. In fact, you might want to promote your organization’s products and services to 15,000 others who have already made the leap or are planning to be on the green team.

The July/August issue will contain the most comprehensive focus on one topic in the 10-year history of the magazine. Among the subject areas to be covered in staff-written articles are:

• Low-cost programs/policies companies can implement as a green strategy starting point
• More comprehensive green efforts that include a higher up-front investment but potential cost savings down the road
• Going green and the energy industry
• Short profiles about companies, communities and universities with innovative green initiatives
• A Community Focus on BioTown and the effort to turn an Indiana community into a self-sustaining energy provider
• A roundtable discussion with industry leaders and an invited national expert
• An Indiana Ingenuity feature on a Hoosier company that is a national player in its field                                 

Business owners, presidents and CEOs will be reading about going green. Jim Wagner has the information advertisers need to know.

I know, I know. You’re sick of hearing about companies "going green." But here at the Chamber, we’ve recently launched a program that makes small, albeit noteworthy strides in this area.

I’m chairing an initiative by our Wellness Committee called the Workplace Wellness Project. The goal of the project is to make the office more environmentally-friendly and help conserve our resources. Here are a few of the things we’re doing:

* Remove Styrofoam cups from the break room and supply paper cups, although we encourage staff to use their own mugs

* Recycle cans in the break room, as well as collect poptabs for the Ronald McDonald House

* Recycle office paper through a local trash company (which we’ve been doing for years). The Chamber also has a publications department, so we’ve recently started recycling old pubs through Indianapolis Recycled Fiber. They will actually come pick them up.

* Educate staff with an environmental speaker at a staff meeting

* Kick off the project with a Pizza Party on Earth Day, which is April 22. Those who wish to attend must sign the Green Commandments, which are 10 suggested behaviors encouraging eco-friendly behavior such as shutting off lights when not in use, recycling when possible, not printing materials when e-documents suffice, bringing lunch in reusable containers, using pens until they are out of ink, etc.

We even have a cartoonish mascot to rally behind named Stan Arbor, the Workplace Wellness Wallaby (oh, the joys of Microsoft Publisher).

These are just some ideas to consider if you’d like to make your office more eco-friendly, help your bottom line and boost morale through a green project.

Frank Sinatra’s hit song “It Was a Very Good Year” comes to mind when considering Boone County’s many successful business ventures in 2007 (with the good news continuing early in 2008). Several major announcements outlined plans for economic growth in the form of new jobs and a 1,700-acre mixed use development community in Whitestown called Anson.

The idea behind Anson: it’s a place where people can “work, shop and play.” Its industrial side will house businesses such as Medco Health Solutions, whose automated prescription distribution center will create approximately 1,300 jobs. Both Duke Realty and Browning Investments are major players in the Anson project.

Other developments? Lebanon became the new U.S. headquarters for a prominent power tool manufacturer. Also, a global publisher is expanding its distribution center in the Lebanon Business Park. Learn more about these developments and others that made 2007 “a very good year” for Boone County in the current issue of BizVoice magazine.

Can federal government agencies replace bureaucratic language with plain English?

They may be forced to try under legislation that is moving through Congress. The translation of documents into plain language could be a lengthy process and one that will not come easily.

In a 376-1 vote Monday, the House passed a measure (HR 3548) that would require the federal government to use plain English, understandable to ordinary Americans, in all communications that explain how to file taxes or obtain government benefits or services.

A report from Congressional Quarterly noted that the government has tried several steps over the past few decades to encourage agencies to issue documents in plain language. Former Presidents Richard M. Nixon, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton all issued executive orders requiring various government documents to be written in plain English, and agencies have launched their own initiatives.

But readers trying to figure out what the bureaucrats are saying still complain about impenetrable wording. So freshman Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, is trying to goad government writers with a bill that would put the no-jargon requirement into law.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved its version of the measure (S 2291) on April 10. It was sponsored by Sen. Daniel K. Akaka, D-Hawaii.

“There’s no reason why the federal government can’t write forms, letters, and other public documents in a way we can all understand,” Braley said. “It’s a simple change that’ll make a big difference for anyone who’s ever filled out a tax return, applied for a passport, received a letter from the Veterans Administration, or read a government document.”