by Debbie Farrell
I could call myself a leftover hippie
from the 60's. I love nature and working in the garden (organic of
course). I was somewhat aware of all the talk of global warming when a
co-worker showed me a catalog of earth friendly products. All of a
sudden I became aware that I had the personal choice of buying
products that would not harm the environment.
I looked around my office where I wok with this thought in mind. What struck me instantly was plastic water bottles!!! Everyone's trash was
full of them. With about 200 employees in the office alone, if there were only one bottle per employee per day, that would mean1,000 bottles in a week, 4,000 in a month - and that doesn't count weekends. I wondered if I had the power to effect a large change - not just my personal choices.
I gathered the numbers on what we spent on paper, cleaning products, etc., and where we spent it. From
there I did an analysis of how much it would cost to buy green products,
start a recycle program, use energy saving devices, etc. I put it all
together and sent the proposal to the owner of the company.
The company I work for has built a couple of LEED's buildings (sustainable
buildings) so everyone is aware of the growing concerns. The owner, leery of radical
change, asked me to form a committee. We would further assess
what changes were do-able.
We kicked off the initiative by having three separate
screenings of "An Inconvenient Truth," all during working hours. Seeing the
pictures on screen brought home the issue in a powerful way. Yet, as moved
as the viewers were, on the way out they started throwing their cans and
bottles into the trash. When I called out to everyone to please take
their empties to the recycle bin there was a look of shock on their
faces and then laughter. What they had just absorbed from the film was completely
overridden by habit and suddenly they realized that mindfulness would have to take the place of habit.
Once awareness was raised, I thought it would be a good thing to give away small green things to
boost the employees' awareness. Everyone will try a CFL light bulb if
you give it to them for free. And if we gave them good ones they
wouldn't shy away from using them. I did a lot of research online to
determine what to look for in a bulb. One of the fellows at the company gave me the
name of a supplier that had been used on one of the jobs and told me to
contact him. Maybe he'd give me a good deal. Well, there was no deal.
It cost a lot but the company didn't question it. I was glad
that I didn't have to sacrifice quality.
Soap was my next idea. I ordered dishwasher soap from Sun & Earth which I had been using at home for
our dishwashers here. They sent some small samples of their other
products with the order and I latched on to it. I felt the products to be the best available. I called a woman named Lynn at Sun & Earth and talked her about sending us samples for free. She even agreed
to send me extra so we could put it in with the welcome package for new
employees.
All the employees have been great. The recycle containers overflow.
I can't tell you
what kind of impact the screening of "An Inconvenient Truth" had.
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