We in the White Lion Den have much to be thankful for, and in the spirit of giving something back, team members have contributed both money and time to numerous charities. A small sample would include the Austin Humane Society, Austin SafePlace, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Doctors Without Borders, Fistula Foundation, Mobile Loaves & Fishes, Smile Train and the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.

Recently, however, we moved to combine our forces in the wake of Gustav. We were raising money for the American Red Cross National Disaster Relief Fund before Ike hit the Texas Gulf Coast. During the drive, I spotted the same team energy that allows us to provide world-class products and services and makes White Lion such a wonderful place to work.

The results were so positive that we will be joining forces on a regular basis to raise money and donate time for the charities we all hold dear to our hearts.

Wes Dulaney - Programmer - White Lion Internet Agency

I believe more and more people will choose to be more green and to buy more from green companies. On that note, we had a Tuesday team meeting to review prototypes for the new White Lion site - a project that is a long four years in the making! The good news is we have tremendous momentum with a new logo along with design and programming resources which will allow us to launch in the very near future. Very exciting stuff!

So back to the green topic. The home page prototypes each had some element to illustrate we are a green company.

A few examples:

We then openly debated how much of a green company we are. In my opinion we are very green. Many companies today don’t prioritize the environment because of the perception it takes too much extra time or costs too much - which is a shame. Further, in my reading and observation the “green trend” is by no means a fad but a new trajectory of the way many in the world view themselves and the products and services they use.

So how is White Lion green? First off, White Lion has been recycling all that we can at work long before the green trend. We also allow telecommuting to cut down on emissions. With our recent move to 511 W. 7th we switched and chose to pay a premium for Austin’s Green Choice Energy program to access clean wind power.

“Austin Energy receives electricity
from huge wind turbines located in West Texas.”

To also help reduce our carbon footprint, we switched from delivered bottle water to an in-house reverse osmosis water filtration system. We will save about $20-30 per month and never have to hand load water bottles again. Now that is a win-win-win! Win for the environment, our bottom line and for that one team member who was left with the task of switching out the empty water bottle.

Besides recycling, using clean electricity, allowing telecommuting and by having an in-house water filtration system, we are always on the lookout to use less like with printing less. Paper is heavy and costs a lot to transport. By reducing our paper use we also are helping the environment. Also, all “used” paper goes into a shred bin provided by Austin Shred. We made sure all shredded paper was recycled before hiring Austin Shred.

In summary, our entire team is encouraged to find new and innovative ways to be more green. So the bottom line is there is no green washing going on with White Lion. We are proud of our green heritage and feel our green approach is another differentiator for our team in the web development and design industry.

Steve C. Kahle - Managing Principal - White Lion Internet Agency