By Alyana C. Caspe
Actions can be taken every day to reduce your ecological footprint or the mark you leave on your natural environmental and its resources. Ecological footprint is defined as the measure of human demand on nature and compares human consumption of natural resources with earth’s ecological capacity to regenerate them.
There are several simple things that people can do on a daily basis to minimize their impact on the environment.
1. Use energy more efficiently. Your electricity usage is one of the largest parts of your overall environmental impact. Fortunately, and perhaps surprisingly, you can easily choose where your electricity comes from.
Regardless of the specific energy mix of your state—how much energy comes from coal, natural gas, hydropower, nuclear, etc.—switching to a green power program that draws on all renewable energy is one of the strongest ways you can personally take a stand for renewable energy. Doing so isn’t a substitute for utilities using all-renewable energy as standard practice, but until that time comes, green power programs both send a signal to utilities that their customers care about how their electricity is generated, and reduce your personal environmental footprint.
2. Conserve water. Energy is used to heat the water used in your facility and process waste water. Install low-flow shower heads and aerated faucets to reduce the amount of water used; this can be especially effective in lodging and multi-family facilities. Facilities with high hot water demand, such as hospitals and restaurants, should consider heat recovery to capture the energy from waste fluids to heat or preheat water.
3. Diet. For many of us, what we eat is dictated by habit, tradition, and what’s easily available and affordable around us. Nevertheless, if you want to build a solidly sustainable foundation for your life, taking a look at your diet is an important factor.
4. Reduce, reuse, recycle. Your environmental footprint goes beyond energy use and your business. All of the materials and equipment in your facility must be produced and shipped there, and then disposed of—all of which impacts the environment. Look for ways to use less; it could be something as simple as printing on both sides of paper or developing a better preventive maintenance program to make equipment last longer. Establish a company wide recycling program.
5. Travel less. Employees driving to and from work produce a substantial amount of air pollution. Encourage (or subsidize) employees to use public transportation or organize car pools, and allow employees to work from home whenever possible. Minimize business travel through web conferencing, email and other low-emission communications. If you maintain a fleet of vehicles, use them only when needed and look for fuel-efficient models.
6. Clean and maintain regularly. Stop viewing asset cleaning and maintenance as a cost, but instead view it as an asset-preservation measurement. Just like getting your vehicle serviced regularly, your floors, kitchens, equipment and bathrooms all need regular attention to protect their form and function.
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