Go green at work. Image taken from http://gogreen.org/blog/5-ways-to-green-your-home-office/
At Sir David Attenborough’s recent live show in Perth, Professor Brian Cox sent in a question asking Sir David whether he was optimistic about the future of our planet. In response, Sir David said “No. In two to three generations, our grandchildren and great children will look back at us and they will be amazed by how wonderful we had it and they will question why we didn’t do anything more to look after it. Yes, opinions about issues like climate change are changing for the better, however, we really aren’t doing enough to save our beautiful planet. We each need to do everything we possibly can, no matter how small or insignificant our action is and regardless of whether we think that we are making a difference.”
Inspired by this answer, I have decided to do some short blogs on the little things that we can do in our daily lives to help the environment (keep your eyes open for them). So to start off, we will look at “Five Easy Ways To Go Green At Work”. This list was taken directly from a Canadian website, David Suzuki Foundation, a site dedicated to helping the environment. I recommend having a look at this website, there are some really handy and interesting articles and tips.
Five Easy Ways To Go Green At Work
1. Commute Smarter
- Walk or cycle to work
- Take public transportation and buy bulk passes to save money
- If you must drive, carpool or car share
- Choose hybrid rentals or taxis
2. Save Energy
- If you’re not using it, turn it off
- Enable energy saving settings on all equipment
- Unplug anything that still suck energy even when its turned off (mobile phone chargers, things with blinky lights, etc.
- Plug equipment into power boards/bars and turn them off until needed
3. Live Healthier
- Choose foods that are local, organic and sustainable for meetings, lunches and catered events
- Get rid of toxic cleaners and personal products in your office kitchens and bathrooms
- Add plants to your work space – they filter the air
- Take the stairs instead of the elevator
4. Waste Less
- Set ‘double sided’ as the default setting on your printer
- Go electronic instead of using hard copies: phone and email, use overheads and power point presentations, get e-subscriptions, and use web resources
- Switch to cloth towels and napkins in kitchens and bathroom
- Compost kitchen scraps
5. Conserve Water
- Ban bottled water. Use a stainless steel commuter cup
- Keep a pitcher of water in the fridge instead of running the tap
- Scrape dishes instead of rinsing before putting them in the dishwasher
- Don’t pour water down the drain – use it to water plants
Even if you’re only able to try one or two little things, it is still one or two things that weren’t being done before!
