Earth Day Wrap-Up

Yesterday was Earth Day – once again, we looked at reasons and ways to balance people and profit with planet preservation. Completely noble stuff, to be sure.  I like the awareness surrounding the day, but at the same time? For the last couple of years, I’ve had this nagging feeling that “Earth Day” isn’t all that effective when it comes to converting “awareness” into action.  Turns out?  I wasn’t alone:  the good folks at HuffPost must have had a similar inkling.  They did a poll to assess environmental attitudes now vs 1971 when the first Earth Day made an appearance.

Turns out, in the 2013 HuffPost/YouGov poll, only 39 percent of respondents said it was “very important” vs the original 68%, while 41 percent said it was “fairly important” now (vs 25% then) and 16 percent said it was “not too important” – double the original 8%.

What’s responsible for the ‘cool-down’ in our environmental attitudes?  While HuffPost points to “slacktivists” turning us off with less-than-sincere intentions, I can’t help to think there’s a bigger disconnect at play when it comes to green efforts at work:  overall, I think we do a mediocre job of connecting sustainability efforts we’ve chosen to take with payoffs for employees that will give them the purpose needed to follow through.  Maybe that sounds harsh, but let’s face it:  we’ve already determined we’re a “me-oriented” society working in a time where loyalty is largely no longer to the company but looking to our own interests first.

If we’ve identified that as the mentality we operate under, then for eco-initiatives to be as successful as we’d like them to be, we have to call out things that can be done on an individual level and connect them to why they count for the individual.  Why should Sally in accounting take the time to walk to a central recycling bin with last month’s reports??  Why does it help Bob to wait until 5pm to start the dishwasher with everyone else if he wants to get his coffee mug clean now?  Why would Kim, Ed, and Sherry bother to inconvenience themselves to carpool, making one reliant on the others  if driving alone keeps their control intact?  We have to be able to answer these questions with benefits we can tie to our initiatives if we want them to succeed.

Here’s a few areas where we can “go green” on a connected individual level:

1.  Create Energy Goals & Rewards:  A basic place to start in the office is with knowing the base energy usage.  Try using a “Kill a Watt” Energy meter to assess current energy usage of anything plugged in at workstations, break rooms, and conference rooms.  Calculate departmental and company totals, then create energy savings goals for each.  Associate rewards with this:  if it’s not bonuses, then consider time off, team events, and leader boards for a little friendly office competition.

2.  Improve Productivity:   There are more than a few “green initiatives” that are free and have been shown to improve productivity.  Two notable examples?  Letting sunshine in through the windows, which not only creates energy savings but also has been shown to improve mood and productivity.  The other is through the use of green plants in the office place.  Green plants help absorb air pollutants and increase oxygen-flow, helping to prevent “Sick Building Syndrome” — a condition where office decor, carpeting and furniture can release off-gassing fumes into the air that can cause illnesses such as upper-respiratory colds, allergies and eye infections.  In a 2-year Norwegian study, the presence of green plants resulted in a decrease of negative health symptoms by 25%:

• Fatigue and headache fell by 30% and 20% respectively, when the subjects had plants in their office;
• hoarseness and a dry throat fell by around 30% and coughing by around 40%;
• dry facial skin fell by around 25%.

Just as important were the effects the presence of green plants have on stress and productivity.  In a study with office workers done by Washington State University by Virginia Lohr, it was shown that “when plants were added to this interior space, the participants were more productive (12% quicker reaction time on the computer task) and less stressed (systolic blood pressure readings lowered by one to four units). Immediately after completing the task, participants in the room with plants present reported feeling more attentive (an increase of 0.5 on a self-reported scale from one to five) than people in the room with no plants.”

3.  Ditch Disposables:  Replacing styrofoam coffee cups and the paper ones near the water cooler can make a big difference when it comes to sustainability.  An office of 15 people replacing their three paper cups a day each with a washable, reusable mug would save 11,250 paper cups from being purchased and tossed. This step saves the company money – get the individual employee involved by either providing the mugs, or having a “company coffee break” where employees are encouraged to bring in a mug that shows off their interests and/or personality.

5. Time For Carpooling:  Encourage eco-friendly transportation. Offer incentives to employees for carpooling or public transportation use, such as the ability for car-pooling employees to knock off 30 minutes early to help beat traffic. Allowing even part-time telecommuting cuts office costs, makes a lighter ecological footprint and can improve employee morale.

Finally, check out our infographic on 8 ways you can help your employees go green all year long: