Green Space: Becoming paper-free (or close to it)
Reduce is the first word in the “reduce, reuse, recycle” mantra — and sometimes the most difficult to make part of everyday life. This edition of Green Space looks for ways to lessen one’s paper usage. Gotta start somewhere.
One unintended boon I discovered about working from home is how much less I print from my computer. A lot of that is because I use a laptop, and it’s kind of a pain to connect to my (non bluetooth) printer just to have it spit out a coupla pages.
But it got me to thinking how often hitting print or running a couple of extra copies has become nothing but a habit for many people, whether it be at home or at the office. My challenge to you then, is to think before that itchy finger hits “print.” It is likely that whatever it is can stay on the screen.
Email meeting agendas and minutes around before meetings. Many people use laptops to take notes at meetings, and those people will not need a printed copy. i sit on one board of directors that does this and instructed themselves to bring their own if they wanted hard copies. Most don’t.
Have GreenPrint installed on computers at your home and business. The simple yet brilliant concept at work here is that the software virtually prints your documents before actually printing them, and seeks out blank pages and other paper-wasters like dangling single lines. It tracks the amount of money and paper you save. Also, it never hurts to print double-sided whenever possible.
Read on-line newspapers and magazines. (Like metromode, of course!) While I would be the last to criticize someone wanting to hold the Sunday Times in their hands, take a step back from your subscription list and see if there are magazines and newspapers on it that can be read quite well on-line. Always recycle your magazines and papers too, obviously — oftentimes, schools, health care facilities and homeless centers will take them off your hands gratefully. Another idea: share subscriptions with a neighbor or friend with similar reading habits. Most mags only bear one read, right?
Sign up for a ‘mode favorite: local do-good entrepreneurs 41pounds.org. The brothers behind the concept promise to get you off most junk mail lists — removing an estimated 41 pounds of paper from your life each year for the sum of $41.
Read more about 41pounds.org in an earlier ‘mode article here.
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh
Related Articles
Detroit’s water affordability crisis is tied to the uneven distribution of stormwater management costs – a fraught history explains why
Some Detroit residents spend as much as 25% of their disposable income on water bills. Many are struggling to keep up.
Ferndale photographer gets international spotlight with nomination for People’s Choice Award
A Ferndale photographer is gaining international recognition for his macro photography. His photo, “Ready to Pounce,” showcasing the beautiful exotic ambush bug, is in the running for the global People’s Choice Award vote in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.
Pints for the Planet: Griffin Claw saves grains from dumps, cuts carbon footprint
Griffin Claw Brewing in Birmingham is changing the brewery game by implementing multiple sustainable practices like sending their brewers’ grain to local farmers and recapturing CO2 to prevent it from entering the atmosphere.
