Telling your boss to go green

By Amber L. Fagan

“You’re one of those hippie treehuggers, aren’t you?” someone asked me at my job at a government contractor who works with the Department of Defense.

All I had done was mention that the office needs a recycling bin for soda cans.

When most of us think of the DOD, the term “environmentally friendly” does not come to mind. And for a very good reason – it usually isn’t. As a contractor for the federal government, my passion for environmental issues is often ignored.

But last week, I stumbled across an article that highlighted new green initiatives by the DOD, which claims that the DOD is trying to go green by reducing consumption and waste.

I was surprised to see this initiative since the area where I work can be rather wasteful with the earth’s resources. For starters, I work in a rundown, musty old building with amenities circa 1950’s. It is truly like walking back in time, and not in a good way. It has poor ventilation, missing ceiling tiles, which let in warm air in the summer and cold air in the winter, and old faucets in the restrooms that leak. The ventilation and missing ceiling tiles make the heating and AC units work overtime and the leaky faucets waste water. Furthermore, my small office uses old window units for air conditioning which suck up a lot of energy with very little cold air output. Newer, more energy efficient models could be used, and they would save the government money in the long run. In addition, energy efficient light bulbs, like compact fluorescents (CFLs) could also be used.

The DOD is notorious for its massive paper trail. It has gotten better in recent years due to everyone’s growing addiction to email and blackberries, but there is a lot of room for improvement. Paper and toner are wasted due to documents which print “This page intentionally left blank.” Furthermore, there is always too much paper floating around on desks, copiers and file cabinets. Scanning documents onto the computer and storing them electronically would help eliminate waste and reduce those nasty paper cuts.

Unfortunately, working from home or telecommuting is not an option for me. But they could make the commute greener by allowing us to alter our work schedules to miss the bulk of traffic or offer subsidies for taking public transportation. I could come in at 10 a.m. and leave around 6 p.m. and I would not sit for half an hour at the tunnel and get to sleep in a little longer. Doing this would reduce fuel costs and emissions from idling vehicles.

I also work with a bunch of baby boomers who still view “green” solely as a crayon color, which can be a stressful environment for a hippie-wannabe like me. Some even tease me about the Wonder Bread sandwich holder I bring in with my lunch. Trash generated from disposable sandwich bags as well as a variety of plastic and Styrofoam containers pollute our oceans, rivers and forests. Switching to reusable containers for meals and leftovers is a great way to start small in the journey to become green.

In general, people are creatures of habit, which can make becoming green a big challenge. Now I’m trying to convince my coworkers to alter their thinking about the environment. I tell them that starting out with small changes can make a big difference, and it will give them the confidence needed to keep going.

Though efforts are already underway in the DOD to make the organization more environmentally friendly, there’s till a lot that can be done. If you are in the same situation as I am, the smartest thing you can tell your coworkers and supervisors is that most “green” options will save the company money in the long run. When money talks, people listen!

For more information on how to make your office greener, check out these links:

Treehugger.com's How to Green Your Work

MoreBusiness.com's How to Green Your Office