First Lady Michelle Obama had an interesting mix of Americans in her box for the State of the Union speech. Among them was an Oregon businessman:
Jim Houser, Portland, OR
Jim Houser and his wife have owned an auto repair shop in Portland, Oregon for over 25 years, and they don’t want to lose valuable employees. That’s why Jim has always provided health insurance to his employees. But in the last ten years, Jim has been forced to contend with skyrocketing premium increases, with premiums making up over 20 percent of his payroll. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, Jim and small business owners like him are getting immediate relief. The health reform law provides tax credits for small businesses that offer employees health insurance. Jim estimates that the tax credits will save him over $10,000.
As per the other guests, the White House invited Houser as an example to others. He is a small businessman who has struggled to provide his employees health insurance. Twenty percent of payroll to health insurance? That is onerous, by any accounting, and the Affordable Care Act eased that paid via the tax credits for small businesses. Houser is an example both of decent action by an employer and of how the ACA makes it easier for small business owners to act honorably and ethically.
Yet, the legitimate reasons for Houser to be present in the First Lady’s box extend beyond health care. Houser is, as reported by Michele Rafter in 2009, an example when it comes to sustainable business practice.
Business owners Jim Houser and Elizabeth Dally spent 26 years greening their Southeast Portland auto repair shop, Hawthorne Auto Clinic, and have gone to great lengths to document their efforts.
The irony of running a green business in an industry demonized as one of the world’s biggest polluters isn’t lost on Jim Houser. He’s even joked that he fixes “gas-guzzling, carbon monoxide-spewing hunks of metal.” But the couple’s quest to go green is no laughing matter. Houser and Dally have left no aspect of their 5,000-square-foot Hawthorne District repair shop unreformed, from using locally re-refined motor oil and anti-freeze to shuttling customers around in an electric hybrid car to buying carbon offsets
Rafter held Houser and Dally up as an example of substantive and serious ‘sustainability’ practices in the face of an increasing trend toward greenwashing ‘seals of approval’ that can mask far from sustainable activities.
Note that these practices have tangible payoffs that go beyond the Clinic’s own carbon footprint and help in the bottom line:
The repair shop provides showers and bicycle racks for employees who ride to work and TriMet passes for bus riders. They’ve put four mechanics through training to work on hybrids and provided other training opportunities — one reason many on their crew have worked there a decade or longer.
Replacing and training an employee is costly. More experienced mechanics, with broader skills, contribute to winning and keeping clients. While ‘greening’ might help reduce utility costs, the direct business payoff might be far greater in terms of reduced employee costs due to reduced turnover and increased customer loyalty (e.g., increased business with lower advertising costs). In other words, Houser and Dally might just be making green by being/going Green.
The Clinic’s ‘sustainable’ practices include:
- Many worn parts removed from customer’s vehicles are recovered as cores for re-manufacturing.
- Oil filters are drained to reclaim the used oil and then recycled for their metal content.
- Used motor oil is collected for recycling and energy recovery.
- Re-refined motor oil, which meets the same quality standards as new oil but saves energy in the refining process, is offered to customers.
- Bulk anti-freeze is purchased to avoid wasteful plastic containers. but work to get such practices more widely adopted along with the good practices in their industry more widely understood.
The Clinic has received recognition for its workCardboard, paper boxes, and scrap paper, as well as metal parts, batteries and fluids removed from vehicles during repairs, are recycled.
“Auto shops have a reputation as being polluters,” says Jim. “We want to correct that image. Many shops are doing work, like us, to properly handle environmental issues.”