There are many things you can do to make your daily life more eco-friendly. From the moment you wake up until the end of the day, there are alternatives. The good news? It's easy!
Here are 6 simple ways to make your day, greener.
1 | A day always starts with a journey.
More than 60% of CO2 emissions from transportation are caused by cars. You can replace most of your car trips with public transportation, carpooling or cycling when accessible. Most cities offer ecological alternatives related to transportation (such as the rental of electric bicycles, providing a network of buses and subways) and some provide aid (a refundable 30-percent tax credit for purchasing a pedal-assist bicycle for example).
For the more adventurous and thrill-seekers, new means of transportation are emerging with the appearance of OneWheel, the old fashioned skateboard, or the electric scooter.
Here at SAOLA, we prefer public transportation to preserve our beautiful city and our planet. Founder, Guillaume, travels by electric scooter, Apolline by bike, Emilie by train, Antoine and Maxime by skateboard, and Jesse in the US works from home so her commute across the hallway is easy. In short, we do as much as we can to avoid traveling by car, and therefore avoid traffic jams.
2 | Coffee Time!
After arriving at the office, our first instinct is to make a coffee to start the day off right, right?
We suggest a filter or bean-to-cup machine to replace your capsule machine.These capsule or pod coffee makers have 10 times the average impact on the environment than the traditional machine. Every year, 9 billion capsules are sold worldwide (that's a lot of coffee!) and represent 40,000 tons of waste. Only a part of these capsules are recycled because they are not only composed of aluminum (which can be recycled endlessly).
We share a coffee bean machine with four other companies in our office space.
3 | Water Break!
In 2019, consumption of bottled water amounted to roughly 43.7 gallons in the United States. This is unacceptable. The solution: use a reusable water bottle to avoid buying plastic bottles.
At SAOLA, everyone is given a reusable Hydroflask water bottle upon arrival, allowing each employee and intern the ability to further minimize their impact on the environment.
4 | Emails, emails, emails...
It's being talked about more and more, but it's true that sending and storing email produces a lot of CO2. With 10 billion emails sent per hour in the world, it is important to limit or eradicate useless emails. It's even helpful to delete those thousands of emails that you will never read again. To put it in perspective, about 30 mails sent per day over a year corresponds to a 300-400km car trip.
We recommend trying software that allows you to bring employees together on a conversation (Slack, Teams, Skype, Trello, Discord...)..
Fast responses, less impact on the environment, everyone wins.
5 | Lunch time!
Just like water bottles, you can replace plastic packaging with reusable boxes, many of which are made of glass. his allows you, on the one hand, not to waste your leftovers from the day before, but also to avoid buying a lunch every day and using materials that are harmful to the environment. There are lunchboxes of all colors and for all tastes!
For those who like to cook, look into Batch Cooking. It allows you to prepare all your meals for the week in advance and therefore frees up your time every night.
6 | What to do with waste.
In 2014, the recycling/composting rate for municipal solid waste in the US was 34.6%. (like recycling, composting, etc.). We're clearly on the right track! It's a figure that's increasing every year (and we're not going to stop there!).
But why stop at home when some actions can be very simple? Add different colored trash cans for different types of waste. Might we also suggest a small compost bin if the location allows? That way, every piece of trash has its place.
Obviously, the list is not exhaustive. There are countless quick and effective methods and solutions that help preserve our planet! That's what we're looking for at all costs here at SAOLA.
Our goal: reduce the environmental impact on a daily basis. Share your own tips here, or on our social networks!
