Eco Friendly House And Garden

An eco friendly business doesn’t just talk about it – it acts on it!

Depending on the type of business that you run, or the company that you work for, there could be a certain amount of long-distance travel involved.  And long-haul means wasted time, staff not working and carbon emissions!

So Climate Care Day is asking: ‘Why not consider a ‘travel free’ day as part of your current business plan?’  This initiative supported by the WWF is trying to give you the opportunity to look at the alternatives, and make businesses more eco-friendly.

By asking you not to travel as part of your working day, they are trying to get businesses and individuals to think about the impact that their decisions can have on not only their business itself, but also on the wider environment.

What Are They Asking?
Basically, the idea of Climate Care Day is to get businesses to not arrange any long distance travel for that 24 hours.

So, on the 26th of March 2010, they are hoping that corporations will communicate via other means rather than face-to-face.

Whether this means individuals will communicate verbally by telephone, digitally via the internet or virtually with live video conferencing – it doesn’t matter.  As long as they haven’t flown or driven hundreds or thousands of miles to do it in person!

There are plenty of technological alternatives available to businesses today that can eliminate or reduce the need for business travel – and can save a lot of money in the process!

However, a lot of people are not thinking of these alternatives as they plod along doing everything as they have always done it.  Added to this is the problem of the changing market, where something that wasn’t really a viable option a few years ago is now readily and very often cheaply available.

Sometimes things that have always happened a certain way are seen as static – with no real reason to change it – well, if it has always worked like that – why change it?

But we have seen with the impressive speed with which cell phones have morphed into a huge array of handheld mobile technology gadgets that make phone calls, give you directions, display whole journals, film events, take pictures, search the internet and even play games.  Why would you still want to do all these things separately and as slowly as we used to do it?

Would you rather go to a library and scan through the paper index and individual paper journals to find a certain fact, when you could use the internet instead?  And why would you want to carry a camera, your cell and a laptop to review new products for your company, when a smart phone could do all 3 jobs in 1?

The same could be true for your business if you worked smarter – and it makes economic sense.  Save time, save money and reduce carbon emissions – but also create a better work environment and help society change for the better.

Why Do It?
Climate change is said to be the biggest threat to nature and humanity in the 21st century, and has now become a serious business issue.  Ignoring this could have detrimental effects on not only your own business itself, but on the way we work as a planet at the moment.

Coastal cities are having to make 25-year plans to move whole industries away from threatened coastlines.  You can’t just change the country’s infrastructure overnight!

And supplies and raw materials are changing – for example landfill sites are being raided for their raw ingredients which were buried in the past decades, and old computer parts are being harvested for the precious metals they contain.

We also know that in general things that stay the same are left behind.  I mean if you ran a business today that was based on using only dial-up internet- you would not be able to compete with others in the same market.

You don’t always need the newest inventions, or the most expensive – but you need a viable alternative that suits your business needs.

So, even if you can’t take part in this event, consider looking again at some business improvements – and become more eco friendly along the way.

I’m not a fashion follower and I don’t buy the latest models of everything the minute it changes, but I am planning on buying myself a new laptop.

My current laptop is getting rather tired, and I know that buying new technology can be a waste of resources but I am in a dilemma. I have been using the same piece of equipment for several years now, it is very slow and sometimes doesn’t start up at all! It’s also getting a bit tricky to keep on top of things as often as I’d like.

I don’t want to buy a PC as I don’t really have room for the whole unit and I want flexibility to use it wherever I am – also a PC uses more energy than a laptop AND laptops are designed to run cooler so no need for the great big energy-sapping fans found in desktops.

To send and receive emails, write new articles and research projects and everything else – I need access to the Internet and my current laptop is a bit behind the times. It doesn’t have WiFi, so to become ‘connected’ outside of my home, I would need to buy a 3G stick to replace the cable to my broadband server.

If I use someone elses laptop or PC (and security is not an issue – which it usually is) I already need to use a flash drive (USB stick) to transfer the data back onto mine. My laptop is now so old that it won’t run at all unless it is plugged into the mains, so I am really in the laptop ‘dark ages’.

And working online is always going to require certain technologies and securities, so it’s not like I just want a laptop to mess about on occasionally or to show off to my friends – it is part of my life.

So, What Are My Options?
A) Change the way my life is going and try to live a technology-reduced life. This would result in a complete turn-around for my laptop needs (so I wouldn’t rely on the Internet for day to day things) and the old one will be fine.  Although I might aim for this in the future, I’m not really in a position to do so now.

B) Stick with what I have and just put up with everything taking longer and hope that it doesn’t break down and lose all my important data. This means I will need to buy other smaller additions to make up for it’s age and to keep up with the times! However, if I buy upgrades and other USB attachments and it ‘stops working in the next 6 months or so – then I will have to buy another old one (see C), or a new one anyway – and have to sell all the now unnecessary attachments!

C) Buy a reconditioned laptop and hope that it has been completely cleared so no sensitive data or damaging viruses are on it. Also without really knowing how much better than mine it is and for how long it will last is this even a very good option?

D) Buy a brand new netpad – a tiny laptop that only runs programs that I use. It comes with guarantee from the manufacturer that they will recycle it when I no longer need it, removing all the toxic materials before disposal and they will reuse any parts they can. Obviously that won’t be anytime soon, but at least the manufacturers now-a-days have to be more responsible!

So, Where Am I?
I’ve been checking out the options for new laptops, and here are some of the things I will be looking out for:

Efficient Running:
I need the technology to determine when my laptop needs to use less energy. Ideally as a result of this, it will adjust the flow into the machine saving my battery and extending it’s running time and reducing my drain on my electricity supply.

Many machines lose energy as heat when being used and this new technology (already in some laptops) claims to make them more than 96% power efficient.

Reduced Chemicals:
There are many hazardous chemicals currently used in laptop technology. Many companies claims to have removed up to 37 hazardous chemicals – including both lead and mercury – from their products. The current WEEE directives only ask for 6 to be removed.

This step would also make sure that discarded computers would pollute less. And of course that their factories are free of these chemicals too – perfect for retaining the health and safety of their employees!

Eco Friendly:
Ideally the company and their suppliers are sticking to green methods as well. I need to know that the long list of components and added ‘ingredients’ used for new technologies and equipment is not harming others along the way to their finished products. Also that foreign companies are not exploiting the environment or the communities that they rely on for raw materials.

Recycling:
I would like to be reassured that manufacturers are designing their products with their dismantling in mind, so that the components can be reused, recycled or discarded individually (rather than the whole lot just being thrown away).

I have also heard of several companies including Asus who have already collected over 5500 unwanted pc’s from their customers and have been reusing the parts where possible and reclaiming the precious metals and technology from machines that cannot be repaired.

They also claim to have donated over 1000 usable computers to local schools in disadvantaged communities as part of their ‘recycling’ package.

The Results:
I know that shoppers need to talk with their money, so I intend to do just that. If I make sure that I buy from a company that is heading in the best direction – this is not just true for laptops and other technologies, but for kitchen appliances, food, clothes and cars to name a few – then I know I am part of the change.

The more people like us that support the efforts of those companies that are trying to make a difference – the more of an impact they can make. If other companies start to see their designs out-sold by such ‘eco-friendly’ companies – they may well start to be more responsible too and clean their own acts up.

If we keep buying products because of the brand rather than the good they do, we can never expect any changes to take place.

So do your bit next time you buy!