“Come on Liseanne, get it together. You’re the one writing the green blog!”
These are the words that rang out from my colleague Jennifer yesterday after I inadvertently placed a cardboard box in our shared garbage can.
Our co-dependent relationship over the recycling bin started earlier this fall after I returned to work from my extended maternity leave. I arrived at the office to find a new face sitting at the desk beside mine. Her name was Jennifer. After a few days of niceties, I looked over to find her rooting through our shared set of recycling and garbage bins: turns out I hadn’t been doing an acceptable job of sorting the recycling vs the garbage. A few days later she pulled my collection of used Diet Coke cans out of the recycling bin to ensure that they actually went to her official ‘can’ bin. The stories go on.
Jennifer showing off today’s very empty garbage and recycling bins thanks to no printing day and no take out food containers! She even took home her apple core to compost (although it was a no go when I offered her my banana peel!).
My point is, it takes a little encouragement to push you to do better, and not everyone is perfect. Jennifer is pushing me, and even then, she still needs a prod here and there too. Earlier this week we bought salads from local restaurants in the area. They came in typical take out containers which ended up in our garbage can due to the salad dressing coating them. That afternoon the two of us just stared into the garbage can lamenting the fact that we had put our containers in it. I wish that I had of had my camera to take a picture of the sad site. We could have walked just 10 yards to the nearest sink and rinsed them out to make them eligible for the recycling bin. A little co-encouragement would have gotten us both to do this. At least we have both acknowledged this and I am proud to say that since then, our lunches have been fully packed in reusable or recyclable containers.
Today is no printing day at work. Recycling is a breeze compared to this challenge for me. I love to use pen and paper to edit, rearrange and comment on documents. For years people have been encouraging me to buy a proper monitor for my little laptop. I have always rejected this idea because the monitor would take up too much valuable real estate from all my papers and pens. But now is the time! A colleague two desks over is moving on next week and he has a gorgeous flat screen monitor that will not be leaving with him…. and it has now been bequeathed to me! Two good acts: less printing in my future and a recycled computer component!
So, one more day of all talk and limited action is over. My lack of attention to the details of my office recycling bin are changing and I am working hard to break old habits. And with a little oversight and support from friends like Jennifer, I have high expectations for continued improvement!
PS: Download the new David Suzuki at Work guide for lots of great ideas on how to green your office.
A big thank you first of all, to Liseanne and Studio Breathe for this worthwhile and significant endeavor. The studio has become more than a place where Catherine and I practice yoga – indeed, there is a real spirit of community at Breathe.
In terms of the Eco Challenge and specific acts of green as it were, our household philosophy is simple. Knowledge is power. If it makes sense to change a certain habit or behavior in order to reduce our carbon footprint – and the change is relatively painless – then why not? All this from someone who in all honesty, is pretty lazy!
As a result, we compost. We filter water. We buy local and implore our grocer to stock more local produce all the time. We buy organic and fair-trade. We do not own a car and walk, run, Bixi or take public transportation. When we need a car to visit family in the suburbs, we use Communauto. We had a green audit done on our home and as a result, took simple steps to make the house more efficient in winter.
What else? Well, while my wife loves shoes and boots, I think we both share a mutual disdain of conspicuous consumption. Redundant package material is a personal pet peeve of mine and I whine about it whenever possible. We carry fabric bags with us when we shop. We cook our own meals from scratch, whenever possible (Catherine bakes the most wonderful bread). We plan to join a farmer’s co-op next year. We intend to cloth diaper. We water our plants with H20 from our Energy Star dehumidifier. I work at home as a freelance travel writer and often blog about sustainable tourism and eco-tourism as a more suitable alternative to mass, all-inclusive tourism. Catherine is a teacher and last year, made a class project out of CBC’s One Million Acts of Green campaign with her kindergarten students.
Simple lifestyle adjustments like these are easy, fun and totally logical. Otherwise, I probably would not do them, to be quite honest. But to affect real policy change on the environment, I recently came to the conclusion that I have to do more. Like write letters, take a hard look at who I invest my money with, audit the charitable associations and political candidates I support … and so on. Green acts start at home but they have to extend outside it as well.
We don’t live in a vacuum after all!