Today is/was the first day of my new job. It is also the first of the month, which means it's time for another green goal. My job is in an office, a setting that is somewhat foreign to the ski instructor in me, so I decided to dedicate this post to being green in the work place. I know there are many things you can do to make a work place really green: buying eco-friendly furniture, using recycled paper or no paper at all, etc, but I am not (yet!) important enough to make these decisions. So instead, I will stick to the little things I can do to make an impact.
1. Bring a reusable water bottle. No need to buy a water from the vending machine! I'll save money and the environment. This one is the most obvious.
2. Bring a reusable coffee cup. See #1.
3. Buy green or thrifted items for my desk if I find I need something that is not available to me in the supply closet. This is really just an excuse for me to buy fun office antiques, but really there's no need to buy something new.
4. Re-use any paper if possible. I'll try to write on the back of papers I printed/received that I no longer need. Even if I can't use these for official purposes, I can use them for writing lists - something I have been known to do from time to time.
5. Bring my lunch in reusable containers. All of that packaging that comes with fast foods/cafeteria items is totally unnecessary and such a waste. Plus making lunch at home (or better yet, eating left-overs from the night before) is an easy way to reduce both food and packaging waste AND save money. It's a no brainer, really.
6. Carpool to work. I won't start doing this right away, since I'm in training and don't really understand my schedule yet, but as soon as I do Dan and I plan to try carpooling as much as possible. He lives a bit farther away than I do, but there's no reason why we can't do this.
That's all I can come up with so far. I'll let you know if I think of something else. Is there anything you guys do to be green at work?
