Our green office community promotes e-bikes, alternative transportation, green energy, intensive recycling and use of recycled materials, and eco-volunteering.
The Green Team is a group of Nat Hab employees who are passionate about finding ways to further weave sustainable practices into our home office and field operations. Representing departments across the company, these dedicated volunteers are constantly looking for fresh opportunities to make us more ecologically conscientious. Not only have they spearheaded ambitious, innovative projects like The World’s First Zero Waste Adventure, they are keen to inspire their colleagues with smaller green goals, too, like teaching them to make their own toothpaste (thus avoiding disposable plastic tubes) and hosting office clothing swaps to reduce consumption of new products.
Alternative Transportation
Nat Hab office employees are lucky to live and work in sunny Colorado, enjoying a panorama the Rocky Mountains on our way to and from our office on the edge of fitness-crazed Boulder. Those advantages make it easier to get outside of our cars – but so does the company’s reward system that provides “Patagonia Points” to employees for biking, walking, carpooling or taking public transportation to and from work. At the end of the year, employees redeem their points for free gear and apparel from Patagonia™. This popular program enjoys a high rate of participation. On an annual basis, we estimate it results in at least 14,000 fewer miles commuted in single-occupancy motor vehicles and prevents the emission of at least 16,000 pounds of CO2 and other greenhouse gases.
E-bikes for All
To inspire employees to cycle rather than drive to work, and to make it more appealing to do so, Nat Hab Founder and President Ben Bressler gifted staff with a holiday surprise at the end of 2018: snazzy Propella electric bikes for every employee. Watch this video to see the reaction! So far, Nat Hab staff has biked a total of 11,580 miles collectively, which is nearly half of the circumference of the planet!
A Green Building
Our home office has been outfitted with a number of ecologically friendly components:
- Our building’s rooftop solar array is one of the largest in Colorado and produces more than 122,000 kWh of electricity per year. Our remaining energy is purchased through renewable energy credits provided by Clean and Green.
- Green building materials were used in a recent retrofit of our building, including recycled carpet, sunflower-seed counters, kirei board (made from straw) cabinets, VOC-free paints, flooring made from salvaged wood and bamboo, recycled concrete, cork wall covering, and used furniture to reduce waste.
- Along with other companies that share our office building, we participate in an organic garden, which grows some of the produce used in our cafeteria.
Green Materials
Whenever possible, we utilize green office supplies:
- All packaging is made from post-consumer recycled content (boxes 100% and poly-mailers 88%)
- All stickers are compostable
- All of our cleaning supplies are natural, biodegradable and environmentally friendly
Our Catalog…None Greener!
Our annual showcase piece presenting Nat Hab’s global collection of The World’s Greatest Nature Journeys, our catalog is made with 100% recycled fiber and 100% post-consumer waste, processed chlorine-free, designated Ancient Forest Friendly, and manufactured with electricity that is offset with Green-e certified renewable energy credits. By printing our catalog this way versus using conventional paper stock, each year we conserve the equivalent of 2,398 fully grown trees, 1,121,248 gallons of water, and we prevent the release of 206,737 pounds of greenhouse gases, according to estimates made using the Environmental Paper Network Calculator.
Community Volunteer Days
Twice a year, Nat Hab employees volunteer as a group to support local charities and community projects. Previous activities have included building trails in Boulder’s mountain parks following flood damage; sorting and shelving at Community Food Share; helping with maintenance work at Colorado’s Wild Animal Sanctuary, dedicated to rescuing captive exotic and endangered large carnivores; and planting vegetables at Growing Gardens, a sustainable urban agriculture enterprise.
