Armchair Activist: #2

Well now, the second of these Armchair Activist posts is brought to you to inspire you to green up your day job or your workplace. According to an article on longer working hours in Britain on the BBC website, the average working week for Brits is approx 37 hours a week. Therefore, even if you are the most socially responsible and eco-friendly individual outside of work, those 148 hours a month spent in the office or on company business could be severely denting your green credentials.

So here are a few tips on how to claw back those ethical points and encourage your colleagues and bosses to do the same!

1. Office supplies: There is a plethora of green alternatives to your average staplers, pens, paper, pads etc on the  market these days. You can now purchase stapleless staplers, FSC certified pens, recycled paper and a great range of recycled and reused pads. So, don’t add to the deforestation plight or landfill-overflow; go for sustainable stationary today!

2. Go paperless: Another alternative to office stationary is to make your office a paper free zone. Replace that mountain of Post-It notes you’re buried under with an organised reminder system on your computer. Email instead of passing notes on, back up data on DVD’s, USB sticks and other digital media rather than printing out and filing endless reams of paper! If all else fails, at least recycle the paper you have to use.

Find out more tips here . . .

3. Commuting: There have been a few posts recently on the merits of non-petrol guzzling, eco-friendly, and money saving initiatives to stamp out the carbon emissions and penny scrimping that the daily commute causes. From cycling to busycling, hybrid cars to electric scooters; there’s always an alternative to travelling in an environmental nightmare every day – also, check out this website on Car Pooling to see if there’s an initiative near you!

4. Energy saving bulbs: The lights in most offices and workplaces are on from about 8am to 6pm, meaning that 50 hours worth of electricity is used simply lighting your day. Energy Saving Bulbs can save you up to 80% of the electricity you use and therefore cut the bills by that much too! So, good for the environment and good for budgets! Tell your boss today!

5. Work from home: Cut down the commutes, reduce the rates, and maintain a healthier work-life balance. Research shows that every litre of fuel you save by not driving to work prevents 2.31 Kg of Carbon dioxide from being released into the environment, and with one in four employees willing to take a pay cut to work from home, it’s not just the environment that could benefit!

There you have it, please do get in touch if you have any more suggestions or if any tips have been taken up by yourself or your employer!

Until next time . . .

(Thanks to Only Alice for the photo)