As a pre-teenager, one of the Authors favorite stories was the classic C.S. Lewis tale, ‘The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe’.  As a young man, he thought there was nothing more exciting as when, during a game of hide and go seek, one of the primary characters (Edmund) stumbles upon a gateway to the ‘Land of Narnia’ through the back of an old wardrobe.  As a reader, you might be wondering how this relates in any shape or form to what Four Walls and A Roof mission as an organisation is?  Well, let’s find the common thread below.

Many people, organisations, governments, and global markets have been playing a game of ‘hide and go seek’ with their balance as a socially, environmentally, and economically balanced entity (triple bottom line) for years.  Continuously, going through the motions of counting to ten and then hoping they can make sense of the diverse playing field and find the right mix to achieve a healthy balance sheet.  Then one day, sitting at their computer desks, with lights flashing and phones ringing, they have a ‘through the wardrobe’ moment and find themselves in another world of energy efficient technologies, climate change, carbon abatements, and corporate social responsibility.  These are confusing times, just ask Edmund when he stared up at the lamppost through the trees and snow, in the Land of Narnia for the first time, after thinking he was just hiding in an old closet!

The Green Maze

It’s a pivotal moment for any organisation when they find new potential opportunities to capilatise upon and new risks to mitigate.  And that’s where Four Walls and A Roof (FWR) seek to provide the most value.  FWR’s mission is to become, through education, sales and services, a guiding hand through the green maze for those exploring and implementing the values and principles of sustainability.  And we accomplish this for our clients and stakeholders by leading the way in providing initiatives and programs of Education for Sustainability for Corporate/business and educational sectors; and providing leading sales and related services for energy, water and resource efficient products and technologies across Australia.

The cost of using energy, water and other natural resources is rising. Reducing and managing the impact of climate change is critical. Community expectations are shifting. Legislation is changing. Are you ready for the future? Organisations face escalating costs and compliance issues. The changes put in place today will create benefits tomorrow – for people, profits and the Planet. But sifting through information on sustainability and choosing the products and services that fit your organisation can be like finding your way through a maze.  FWR offer our clients a value-driven service that strives to help balance social and environmental wins with healthy, sustainable economic success.

What does 'Sustainability' mean to us?

At Four Walls and A Roof (FWR), we believe that our company has a responsibility to foster Human and Natural capital along the same lines as it builds its Economic Capital. We feel strongly about People, Planet, and Profit and make it our business to develop our own practices along the same lines. We practice what we preach!

FWR also seeks to "give back" by contributing to the strength and growth of our community with such things as public training, education and the unrestricted flow of information.

We encourage and support: 

• Family
• Accreditation
• Lifelong Learning
• Professional Development
• Education for Sustainability
• Social and Staff Interaction
• Staff association / networking
• Business to Business partnerships
• Community Interaction and Service
• Staff Development and Advancement

FWR endeavors to benefit the natural order as much as possible or at the least do no harm and curtail environmental impacts. We endeavor to reduce our ecological footprint by, among other things, carefully managing our consumption of energy and non-renewables and reducing our office waste through the maximum use of computer-based and online technologies.

"Cradle to Cradle" design is uppermost in the thoughts of our company's processes and systems. Assessment of the true environmental cost and impact, comes from studies conducted on the  growth and harvesting of raw materials, to the manufacture and distribution, right through to the eventual disposal by the end user. For FWR, environmental sustainability is seen as a more profitable course, for a business in the long run.

We study, measure and analyse:

• Products
• Supply chain
• Correspondence
• ICT and Computing
• Freight and shipping
• Recycling and waste minimisation
• Office supplies – printing, paper, etc
• Travel – fuel use, type of travel, frequency
• Soft and hard copy – mail, marketing, business card, etc

"Profit" is our companies' bottom line, dealing with commerce and economic development, but, it's not our most important bottom line. If the economic, social, and environmental bottom lines don't stack up, then we don't back it up and that is the bottom line!

Giving something back…

FWR played a key role in developing the Climate Active® Initiative. This not-for-profit program empowers and equips schools and communities to measure, reduce and offset their carbon footprint. FWR invests a percentage of yearly company profits in MicroFinance, a simple but powerful investment tool that makes it possible for everyday people to support the world’s working poor.

Our ongoing relationship with the sustainable housing industry, education, community, and national sustainability networks and consultants, allows us to provide comprehensive solutions to your sustainable needs.  With the right guide, an appropriate strategy, and a good mix of technological solutions and ‘people-driven’ action, we make sure that an organisations ‘through the wardrobe’ moment doesn’t become an overwhelming experience.  But don’t take our word for it, just ask Edmund.

Submitted byMike Duggan

Four Walls and a Roof