As Charlie wrote about earlier today, transportation is a big source of greenhouse gas emissions. The fact that you and I don’t have to commute to work every day already helps in terms of limiting carbon emissions, and it’s something we can feel really good about!
But most of us probably still do more driving than we really have to. I’m from California, the U.S. state with the most cars per capita. Driving is what we Californians do (as you may remember from the movie L.A. Story). It often can’t be helped, given how spread out everything is there.
My simple suggestion, with this post, is that you should try to walk more. Take advantage of the fact that you’re not tied to a desk and a schedule, that nobody’s checking how long your lunch hours are. We can often take the time to actually walk to the grocery store when there’s no rush-hour mob scene, and smell the roses along the way. It’s good for body, soul and planet.
How walkable is your neighborhood? I recently stumbled on Walk Score, a cool site that ranks 2,508 neighborhoods in the 40 largest U.S. cities for walkability. I plugged in my old address to test it: Read the rest of this entry »
It’s no surprise that working remotely can have benefits for your environmental footprint: Working offsite has knocked around 18,000 miles off my public transport usage from last year alone. But no matter how careful or responsible web workers might be, the reality is that first-world or “western” lifestyles and standards of living are inherently linked with resource consumption. You may be doing your bit, but you’re unlikely to be living a carbon-neutral life. Read the rest of this entry »
Today is Blog Action Day. Held on Oct. 15 every year, it’s an event that unites thousands of bloggers worldwide, highlighting a particular issue. This year’s theme is climate change.
As web workers, most of us don’t face the same daily commute that our cubicle-dwelling colleagues do, and it’s easy to think that we’re already “doing our bit” for climate change (although there is some debate as to whether web workers are truly green). Reducing transportation is great, but there’s still much more that you can do. Today is an opportunity to brainstorm some ways to reduce the resources you consume and the carbon emissions you’re responsible for.
We’ll be providing some tips for reducing your impact on the environment today, but we’ve already published quite a lot of posts on the topics of sustainability and reducing energy consumption for web workers. Here are some highlights:
If you’re interested in technology and the environment, you should read our sister blog, Earth2Tech.
What steps are you taking to minimize your environmental impact?
I didn’t make many New Year’s resolutions this year. I cut out all those destined to fail, and instead focused on some that I have at least a little hope of achieving. A lot were work related, and one in particular applies primarily to web work. That resoultion? To be more green in my work practices.
It was something I hadn’t paid particular attention to since leaving an office setting. At my last corporate gig, I was instrumental is establishing a proper recycling program. It was easy because it was me vs. the corporate climate. At home, with no machine to rage against, I hadn’t even realized how much could be done.
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When the benefits of teleworking are discussed, one of the major points raised is that teleworking is better for the environment. One of the more obvious causes of this is that if more people work from home, lesser people drive to work, reducing petrol consumption and the emissions that result from it.
A recent survey by the US Consumer Electronics Association found that although the carbon emissions from home offices increased because of telecommuting, the saved petrol consumption more than makes up for it:
The report states that there are 3.9 million people in the U.S. who work from home at least one day a week. By avoiding an average 22-mile commute to the place of work, and taking into account the increased power use in the home, this practice saves about 840 million (U.S.) gallons of petrol, equivalent to taking two million cars off the road for a year.
Source: PC World, Telecommuting Saves Carbon Emissions
Despite these claims, there are still some skeptics.
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I’ve always known there was a good reason why I worked from home in terms of the impact on my quality of life and the impact on my family.
But I have to admit, I feel a little bit overwhelmed analyzing the impact of my telecommuting or the impact of anything I do day-to-day on the planet. Luckily, it turns out I’m helping to save the world by working from home. At least according to the iLinc Web conferencing software.
iLinc announced their “Green Meter” to provide companies with a tool to measure the “environmental ROI” of Web conferencing – real time carbon emissions savings. The patent pending feature calculates the “standard emission rates” for cars or planes based on where each participant in the Web conference are located. How does it do this, you ask?
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Web Work 101: How To Escape The Cubicle
