On Monday, April 22nd, more than a billion people will participate in Earth Day celebrations around the world. No matter where you stand on the subject of global climate change, I think we can all agree that the burden of environmental responsibility rests on all our shoulders.
I have a lot of room for improvement when it comes to my support of environmental friendly practices. My friends, co-workers and children are much better than I am.
My daughter’s advice: Here’s a hint — don’t print . She’s a big advocate of minimizing our paper usage. When we have to print, we try to recycle our paper.
My son’s advice: Beware of phantom loads. A lot of electronics continue to draw a small amount of power even when they are switched off. This is called the “phantom” load phenomenon. My son is always after me to unplug, not just turn off the toaster and coffee pot. In the average home, 75 percent of the electricity used is consumed while the products are turned off. (I can only imagine what it is for the average office setting.)This can be avoided by using a power strip and flipping the strip’s on/off switch to cut all power to the electronics overnight.
My mother’s advice: Temperature control. It’s going to get warmer soon (or so they keep promising us here in Minnesota). Did you know that each degree of a higher temperature setting can save about 3 percent on cooling costs? I’m not suggesting that you turn your home or business operation into a sweat shop, but being mindful of the temperature can result in a big savings.
My HR Manager’s advice: Don’t use single-use cups. At Clearfield, we discontinued the use of foam (Styrofoam is actually a trademark of Dupont, so the correct term is the shorter option) in favor of each employee providing his/her own mug. Rather than buying (and throwing away) more than 50,000 cups a year, we save the landfill space and reduce our office supply costs by $1500 a year. The bottom line, I guess, is that saving the environment is also good for the bottom line.
Before I came to work this morning, I took out the trash bin – and my recycling container that the City has provided. It felt good to do my part too.