Five ways to make your office more sustainable Monday to Friday
As Earth Month draws to a close, we want to emphasize our commitment to making the St. George campus climate positive. Facilities & Services is working hard to transform our energy and utility infrastructure, but we also need your help to make sustainable changes to courses, labs, offices, residences, and events.
Here are five ways to help make your office more sustainable, Monday through Friday.
1. Meatless Mondays
Challenge leaders to hold Meatless Mondays at the office. Reducing our consumption of animal products has enormous health and environmental benefits. Research from Nature Food shows that livestock production contributes more GHG emissions and consumes more resources than most plant-based food.
2. Take the TTC Tuesdays
Switching from driving to public transportation is one of the most effective ways individuals and teams can reduce emissions. There are many options to get to the downtown campus such as bus routes, subways, streetcar lines, GO trains, bike trails, walking paths, and the campus-to-campus shuttle between St. George and UTM. Walking and cycling are the gold standards—combining both environmental and health benefits.
3. Work from home Wednesdays
When possible, hybrid ways of working can reduce our carbon footprint. Hybrid and remote work options will continue to eliminate the environmental costs of a daily commute.
4. Turn off and unplug Thursdays
Plugged-in electronic devices and equipment consume phantom energy even if they are turned off and not in use. Unplug at the end of every day to conserve energy. One way to encourage this across the office is to change all power bars to ones with on/off switches for easy access.
5. Fairtrade Fridays
Restock the office kitchen with only Fairtrade coffee, tea, and sugar. Fairtrade is the most recognized sustainability label in the world: good for business, shoppers, and the planet!
And finally, don’t forget to eliminate coffee pods and single-use cups, and produce unnecessary waste, even if recycled!