Member Articles

12:50: Returning to your office, you should find that your light bulb has cooled enough to touch. Replace your incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents. The Environmental Protection Agency states that these bulbs use 40% less energy than their counterparts.

12:55: Just enough time to make a quick list of some other useful tips that you can pass on to whomever handles the administrative (ordering, inventory, etc.) tasks, or to route to your employer. These might include turning down your company's hot water heaters if they're above 120 degrees Fahrenheit, switching to unbleached coffee filters in the employee lounge, combining departmental orders from one company to reduce packaging and buying office supplies with the highest amount of post-consumer recycled content.

Taking one lunch break to make a few changes is not going to save the world, but if only one organization in every American city in took these steps, the impact would be astronomical. Your involvement can help other people recognize the power of one person. Most importantly, even if you leave at the end of the day without returning all of your emails, you will feel a sense of accomplishment in knowing that you have made a difference.

If you would like to learn more ways to protect the environment, check out these organizations: The Earth Works Group, the Environmental Protection Agency, American Water and Energy Savers, Container Recycling Institute and the Environmental Defense Fund.