No one wants to pay more taxes, but that’s exactly what California-based landscape company is doing, and it’s completely by choice. Greener Environments, owned and operated by husband & wife team Melody and Luke Huskey, is on a mission to provide their customers with low-maintenance, water-saving landscaping that looks beautiful while also ensuring a conscientious use of limited resources and promoting a culture of environmental stewardship. And as part of the “practice what you preach” saying, they have gone so far as to apply a self-imposed “carbon tax” on their company’s net revenues to compensate for the use of gasoline-burning equipment. The carbon tax is calculated monthly at a rate of $25 per ton of CO2 emitted during their operations, with the accumulated funds donated at the end of the year to a local environmental organization or used to donate environmentally-friendly landscaping for a non-profit, school, or public space.
“We’ll be the first to admit it, our trucks and equipment are anything but fuel efficient,” says Greener Environments’ co-owner Luke Huskey. “Unfortunately, there are simply no fuel efficient trucks or machinery on the market that would meet the heavy demands of landscaping operations. While the carbon sequestration and water conservation benefits of the landscapes we build more than offsets the environmental harm of our equipment, we decided to take it one step further.”
It’s due in part to that radical, values-based approach to the landscaping business that recently earned Luke a “Top 20 Under 40 Award” in his hometown of San Luis Obispo, CA. The company takes an active, community-oriented approach to doing business, by offering frequent free hands-on classes in sustainable design, water catchment and drought-resistant landscaping, as well as providing certification through its “GREEN Landscapes Initiative” which gives public recognition to businesses, homes and public spaces that support a healthy environment. The acronym GREEN stands for:
G – Good Soil
R – Rainwater Catchment
EE – Environmentally Efficient
N – Native Plants
“Here in California we’re so blessed to have an amazing Mediterranean climate that allows us so many options for growing plants that are both beautiful and drought-resistant,” says Greener Environments’ co-owner Melody Huskey. “One of the things I love to work with lately are native manzanita and California field sedge. The strong burgundy trunk of the manzanita is a lovely juxtaposition to the soft texture and the green color of the sedge.”
In addition to their hands-on classes, Greener Environments Landscaping offers several e-books available for free download via their website on topics such as rainwater harvesting, tips on California-friendly landscaping, and how to avoid costly mistakes when landscaping. For more information, visit http://greenerenvironments.net.
