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Large organisations willingly provide large sums of money to philanthropic causes that either meet the needs of the community they serve or may serve a purpose that is important to the corporation's leadership.

The same can be said of smaller businesses, although they may respond primarily when asked - most will do so willingly.

Some websites will promote a variety of organisations that assist in promoting balance between business interests and environmental concerns.

Webmasters can provide an environmentally friendly series of policy objectives that promote sound business practices whilst including an approach that can reduce the impact on environmental resources.

As a start, most webmasters would agree that they operate in a virtually paperless industry, so you are already off to a good start in contributing to the long term stability of the environment as a contributing sustainable business.

According to sustainablebusiness.com, "Sustainable businesses are companies that unabashedly embrace the goal of enhancing life on earth as an integral part of their business strategy. These companies show exceptional leadership by their explicit commitment - and the significant resources they allocate to back it up - to address the ecological crisis as it relates to their industry."

The truth is sustainable business practices may actually be a means of watching your business grow. Increasingly, people are looking to find companies that understand the need to protect the environment and who are willing to spend time and resources to assure they are doing the best they can to achieve this aim.

As a webmaster you can certainly work to ensure that the companies you do business with are in tune with sustainable business practices so that the entire network of your business structure is truly vested in environmental sustainability.

Individuals and businesses that seek to deal with you will note the ethical responsibility you are demonstrating in your concern for the future of the planet and will often see this as the sign they are looking for as a means of proving your ethics run deeper than mere words.

For the webmaster, this ethical response to the environment might mean that you work with a solar powered web hosting company. It may also mean working with a bank that is a proponent of environmental ethics. It may also mean working to become carbon balanced. Resources can be provided to clients that may help raise awareness of green issues and the good stewardship associated with sustainable business practices.

For the many entrepreneurs that subscribe to a sustainable business objective it is often true that they will further their involvement by providing a portion of their profits to be used to enhance environmentally friendly research and objectives.

No longer do we need to pass the responsibility for the welfare of our world to the shoulders of larger corporate giants. As webmasters we have the ability to assist the environment while we educate those who may have never realised that sometimes it's the little things that mean the most when everyone does their part.

About the Author

Stephen Knight is the webmaster of Volunteer Latin America