5 Ways to save the environment at work
Are you an environmentalist who wishes to save the environment within your workplace? Great!
As a matter of fact, you are doing the right thing considering that most of us spend a lot of time in the workplace. The office is the second home to many. To help your cause, we have prepared a list 5 things you can do to save the environment at work. But first, let us discuss the following question:
How Dreadful Is Poor Indoor Air Quality?
The threat of global warming is rising each passing day. People are getting unhealthier day by day, wildlife is greatly threatened, and sea life is nearly on its deathbed.
Another severe effect, that we shouldn’t ignore is that pollution has amplified respiratory problems such as asthma.
According to the Global Asthma Report 2018, more than 300 million people from across the world have asthma, about 10 percent of them being Americans. Even sadder, more than 50 percent of all Americans breathe in polluted air and approximately 5,000 of them die annually from the brutal asthma attacks. Most of these deaths occur in major cities such as New York and Los Angeles.
As you can see, protecting the environment, even at work, can never be overemphasized.
Here are 5 ways to save the environment at work
1. Have several indoor plants
Humans exhale carbon dioxide and inhale oxygen. Plants, on the other hand, take in the carbon dioxide and give out fresh oxygen through photosynthesis. That by itself is a plus in your efforts to purify your workplace indoor air quality.
Besides carbon dioxide, other common causes of air pollution in your office include off-gassing office décor and fumes from furniture paints. These pollutants can be neutralized by potted plants in the office. According to a NASA experiment that was published in 1989, indoor plants have the ability to clear dangerous organic compounds like formaldehyde and benzene from the air. Clearly, plants are natural air purifiers.
2. Have some environment-friendly policies
It’s all about encouraging and reinforcing positive behavior in the workplace. Here are a few policies that you can try at your office:
- Encourage paperless working. Digitize the office and eliminate any need for printed documents. This alone will reduce your office waste by up to 90 percent. Almost any process involving physical paper products can be replaced with the right apps, nowadays. GoodNotes alone will reduce analog paper in your office a lot.
- No more thermostats even during the summer. Most people air-condition offices just because they feel like doing it but not necessarily because they need to.
- Ban all plastic utensils from the office. Consider awarding those who act as role models to encourage others to follow their lead.
3. Reuse and recycle!
Some office items such as aluminum cans, ink cartridges, and water bottles are reusable. Encourage your office mates to reuse anything that can be reused and recycle anything that can be recycled in order to reduce office waste. Boxes after receiving a shipment can be used as storage boxes instead of throwing them away. Encourage the use of travel mugs and reusable food containers for those who carry packed lunch instead of paper containers or Styrofoam cups. And as a matter of fact, reusing some of these things saves on power energy that could be used in manufacturing their replacements.
4. Acquire furniture wisely
We mentioned earlier that new furniture contributes to indoor air pollution by emitting dangerous and volatile fumes. You can reduce this effect by acquiring old, used furniture instead of ordering new ones for your office. That even saves your money. But if you insist on buying new furniture, then invest in the best quality in the market in order to eliminate the need for new furniture every now and then. If a chair remains in good condition for 5 years, that means that you will not have to deal with the smell of new chairs for that entire period.
5. If possible, adopt a green energy plan
There are endless options for you if you resolve to adopt a green energy plan. If your state bylaws allow the use of renewable energy sources, primarily wind and solar, then you can liaise with your electricity supplier to install roof-top solar panels in your office. You can even invest in large-scale wind electricity sources if your budget allows it. These renewable energy sources eliminate the need for coal and natural gas-powered electricity sources.
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About the guest author:
Our guest author Lisa is a young ambitious med school student that loves to help other people in need. She knows how important knowledge sharing is and believes that we’re able to change the world for the better by changing a few simple things in our daily lives.
We’re open to working together with inspiring and talented guest authors who want to contribute to the GoodNotes Blog. Topics range from productivity hacks, studying and note-taking tips to paperless working. If you want to contribute, please send us an email and include examples of relevant work that you wrote.
