As you feel the sun’s rays beating down on you this summer, may it serve as a reminder how climate change has a global impact. From the polar vortex to increasingly hot summers, it’s time to do something about it.
Leading up to Earth Day on April 22, why don’t you assess your business and set out to find ways to reduce your carbon footprint? It may seem like a daunting task but with small steps done every day, you’ll make a bigger change than you think.
You can start out by calculating your current carbon footprint before anything else. Once you’ve determined that, set a goal or benchmark you want to reach. You can try any of these things to get started on the road to reducing your carbon footprint. Remember, every little change can not only impact the environment positively, it can also help save your company money!
Change your lights. Still using incandescent bulbs in your office? Switch them out to LEDs. Light-emitting diodes may seem pricier than your usual 60-watt bulbs, but they use less energy and will last you longer. If you can help it, natural light is still the way to go. So, when building an office, opt for big windows than can let natural light in.
Turn it off. If there are appliances and equipment not in use, encourage your workmates to switch them off and unplug. More often than not, anything plugged can still be consuming power. So, make it a habit to unplug or turn off power sockets.
Be smart with technology. If you’re purchasing equipment, opt for laptops instead of desktop computers. Laptops will generally consume less power than require less energy to charge, too. Set computers to energy-saving mode and set to sleep when not in use (or better yet, turn the machine off).
Reuse when you can. If needed, try to use recycled paper when printing internal documents. If possible, you can also print on both sides for less paper consumption. For memos and other documentation, assess which ones can be routed electronically.
Fly less. Are business trips an absolute must? If you can set up conference calls online, opt to do that rather than flying out for meetings that only last two to three days, anyway.
Introduce meatless Mondays. Do you provide meals for your company? Start a meatless day revolution. Meat and dairy are responsible for almost 15% of manmade greenhouse gas emissions. Doing a meatless day at the start of the week can also perk up your team with a healthy meal of fruits and veggies.
Team work makes the dream work. Organizing a carpool to get to work can reduce carbon emissions by a mile. Imagine if four people took one car instead of four separate rides? If you can adapt a work from home or telecommute system, this can also reduce the hours in traffic thus shrinking your workers’ carbon emission, too.
Sharing your company goal for shrinking your carbon footprint with the team can also boost morale by giving them a shared goal to achieve. In the end, you won’t just be positively impacting the environment, you’ll also be improving your company. Are you up for the challenge?