The Real Green Revolution is at Work

“Cutting your carbon footprint” has become a household phrase in the past year, with a flood of news stories, advertising campaigns and buzz about how you can do your bit at home to prevent global warming. Millions of ordinary people are going around fitting energy saving lightbulbs, switching off their TVs properly and recycling their garbage.The problem is that our personal carbon footprints are a small fraction of the bigger picture.The truth is that the largest part of the global enviornmental burden comes from businesses and organisations.It’s like an economy of scale - if you change a small thing within a big company you can see tremendous results.

This may be all true, I hear you say. Not my job though. That’s the job of my boss, and my boss’s boss - nothing to do with me. It’s just not true. If you have a workplace, you can make big changes to your employer’s carbon footprint.What’s more, green initiatives at work can be hugely more effective than the things you might do in the home.

Here are some pointers, small and large, on achieving a greener workplace:

1. Recycle office waste. The sheer volume of plastic, paper and card chucked out by the average office is massive in comparison to your household output. Bring in some recycling collection bins, ideally one set on every floor. Its simpler than you think, as there are countless government and charity programs to do this for you for free.
2. Cut down on car travel. Get a car pooling system going to reduce carbon emissions from all those unneccesary exhaust pipes. Better still, do your body and the world a favour by cycling or walking to and from work.
3. Switch to energy saving lightbulbs. In the home, switching a few bulbs will only do so much. But think about how many lightbulbs there are in your workplace and you’ll begin to see how effective it could be to get them switched.
4. Eco-Friendly IT. Computers are ubiquitous in the office and they use up a huge amount of energy. You can make a big difference simply by making sure your monitor isn’t left on standby when you finish work. But don’t just stop there - by getting your IT department to review the company’s “green baseline” you can multiply the impact. Get them to perform some proper asset tracking on all office IT equipment, using professional asset management software, a business can dramatically reduce its carbon footprint and help meet increasingly stringent government environmental requirements.
5. Campaigning. Move from baby steps to giant leaps. The real revolution begins when you gather sympathetic colleagues to run Green campaigns at work.Us little people, by pressuring the company directors and managers to really take their green obligations seriously, can make great waves. Often, like the IBM ad above shows, the green way is also the most economical way.  For example, companies involved in transporting goods and supplies often generate millions of tons of CO2. Pushing them to properly review their transport and logistics management and make the smallest of improvements can save them big money and dramatically reduce their carbon footprint in the process.

This is just my opinion on the matter. I just wanted to put the idea out there of how powerful going green in the workplace can be. I’d be interested to know your thoughts in the comments below!

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