Green at Work

Coca-Cola is a company Setting a Green Example

Some people think that all this talk about going green is just a fad.  They laugh at people who buy organic vegetables, convert their home to solar power and drive hybrids.  Despite all the research, studies and proof that shows going green is a good thing and something that needs to become the new way of life, these skeptics still don't buy it.  Many skeptics even think going green is a waste of money or will be too costly to even be worth it.  So, is there any way to make them see that going green is not a fad or some silly idea? The answer to that question is yes.  Even the most skeptic individuals may stop and take notice when a large company, like Coca-Cola, decides to start going green.  Such a respected company has earned their trust and if they are going green then maybe they will see there really is something important and real about the movement to go green.  They can also learn that going green doesn't have to be difficult and is something they can do in their own homes. Coca-Cola's Green Changes The first move Coca-Cola announced in its go green movement was the switch to ...

A Push to Get Medical Facilities to Recycle

Medical waste is a huge problem.  Every year medical facilities are throwing out waste that could easily be recycled.  Yet, there has not been a huge movement to start recycling and stop piling medical waste in landfills all over the country.  No other industry besides the food industry creates as much waste as the medical industry.  It is time to start doing something.  It is time for medical facilities to recycle more and throw away less. Why So Much Waste? Hospitals and other medical facilities throw out tools, medical waste and other items on a daily basis.  Some of these things could easily be recycled.  However, it is generally thought to be easier and safer to just throw things out rather than try to recycle them. Safety is a huge issue with medical waste.  There is the risk of transferring diseases from contaminated tools and other waste.  There is also the risk of devices malfunctioning when being used over and over.  The process now involves using special waste bins and procedures to ensure safety is always the top priority.  Changing these policies and procedures would take time and many facilities are just not willing to put in the needed time to change to ...

Connecting with People Who Want to Car Pool

Buying and driving a car have long been considered “rights of passage” in American society.  Who doesn’t know a kid who received a new car as a graduation present from high school? Driving a car also represents the ultimate freedom.  All you need to do is get in that car and go for a drive and you feel free…you can drive anywhere you want for as long as you want… as long as the gasoline holds out, of course. That’s a few of the reasons why Americans resist car pooling.  Another reason is logistical…many people live so far from their jobs, or from their other co-workers, that there’s simply no way they can conveniently carpool together. So, of course, the web has come to the rescue.  Here’s a site that helps car poolers connect: http://www.carpoolconnect.com/.  You simply input the zip codes for your home, and for your destination, and the site will let you know if there are any other people in those areas who want to car pool.  (Note that you have to create a free account before you can do any searches.)  The site also has a message forum where people can discuss car pooling issues. There ...

Don’t hit Print too quickly

The average American uses more than 700 pounds of paper a year in today’s modern office and at home from the numbers of copies of documents which are made needlessly.  Too often office workers are quick to make printouts of documents, especially each and every time a small change is made, despite the fact that the change may only be a minor one.  Here are a few tips to help you save the amount of paper that you produce on a daily basis in your office or at home. First, make sure that you have completely checked your document to make sure that you have a true final copy.  Before you print your document out, run it through your spelling checker program to make sure there are no glaring spelling errors that haven’t been caught.  Next, have someone else who hasn’t authored your work check it over to make sure that there are no errors in punctuation or spelling that that the spelling checker didn’t catch.  Although most word processing programs are getting better, it is still possible to have some rather embarrassing errors slip through the cracks (for example, it’s possible to have “form” appear where you meant to write ...

Use a Refillable Mug

The EPA estimates that nearly 25 billion one use paper and Styrofoam cups are thrown away by Americans for drinks purchased at commercial establishments or drunk in the office.  The sad truth is that nearly every one of these temporary vessels ends up in landfills or clogging our waterways.  It’s a very troubling statistic because polystyrene literally takes hundreds of years to break down, and is made of petroleum, which is nonrenewable.  Scientists have also recently discovered that carcinogenic (cancer causing) compounds leach out of polystyrene, right into your hot drink. That’s not to say that the ceramic doesn’t have its own set of flaws.  The energy invested to make one ceramic cup means you'd have to use the ceramic cup 640 times before it would equal a single polystyrene cup and 294 times to equal a paper/cardboard one.  Factoring in the cost in air pollution, it takes 1,800 uses to beat the polystyrene and 48 to beat paper or cardboard.  Additionally, you would have to drink 126 and 99 cups respectively for the ceramic to compete with them on the waste issue.  And just the use of a ceramic cup totals more than the entire life cycle water consumption of ...