The winner is environmental sustainability
Last week I asked your opinion about the use of words like green and environment and the winner is most resoundingly environmental sustainability. This was also my favourite although green is easier to type. I was also asked for no green fonts.
The other interesting buzz phrase is “reduce your carbon footprint” and someone asked me what that meant recently. The answer is also environmental sustainability really. It is reducing your waste energy and materials so that you are polluting our atmosphere less.
We all accumulate so much “stuff” and all of it either contains carbon and/or it took energy to make, distribute and store.
Having recently moved both house and office I had an accumulation of “stuff” – mostly on the back verandah because I neither brought it into the house, nor stored it in the shed until I had sorted it. Finally I was left with several scattered piles that I consolidated in one pace to sort into keep, store, landfill, recycle or Vinnies/Salvos. An interesting process. I will have another go at what I put in the shed in a couple of weeks as I suspect I can be more ruthless yet.
The trick would be to let less in, in the first place. I have fantasies about a paperless office and I do have mainly electronic files now. This was the huge benefit of not having full time staff who loved printing, filing and filling filing cabinets with colour coordinated files.
The electronic filing does require a robust backup and firewall which is why I found the recent “attack of the gremlins” frustrating. I am a firm believer in low paper simple systems that reduce your workload and also reduce your overheads.
It has been an interesting week with lots of environmental news from around the world as groups position themselves for Copenhagen only six weeks away and there are also many major conferences like the forest conference, the African Union, the European Union and more; pulling their facts together to present unified positions in preparation for Copenhagen.
It really is time we all acted to stop polluting our atmosphere and make sure we are running our homes and businesses environmentally sustainably.
You see ………
We will have financial pressure to push us in the direction of sensible energy management.
Over the next few months there will be agreements and changed legislation and it really makes sense to be on the front foot and take proactive steps to reduce our carbon footprint and have environmentally sustainable homes and businesses. The anwer is to reduce – NOT to simply buy offsets and pay to continue polluting.
A Major Trend
Trends around the world are for more people to “telecommute” and work at least some of the time from home to reduce commuting time, greenhouse gas emissions and money.
I find that working from a well set up home office and working with virtual helpers is a sensible option. I run much of my consultancy this way also with clients widely scattered around Australia and sometimes the world and it saves my clients time and money also.
You only have a one hour per week set time commitment when you join a coached group course to do ISO 14001 and your training materials come in both written and audio form so that you can choose the one that suits you. Many of my clients find that when they are tired, they can still listen and if they commute that is when they listen
Why not take the plunge and join a group implementing ISO 14001 online and making savings of time, waste, energy and more in your business now.
Or if you are not sure you can buy the low cost ISO 14001 Do-It-Yourself package which is the same course except for the weekly coaching. You can get extra one-on-one coaching or upgrade to the coached course if you wish.
Save Money with Simple and Effective Management SystemsJean Cannon is an award winning consultant and trainer helping people and businesses around the world who want to save money by implementing simple and effective management systems. Sign up to discover how YOU can save money with sensible energy management and ISO 14001.
