A 'green' home office can boost productivity by enthusing you and your team (or your family if it's just you at the helm of your small business) in a positive way. If it all seems too overwhelming, just take a deep breath and commit to making a few small changes before the end of the year to spring clean your home work space.
Here are 10 simple ideas you can choose from.
1. Clean your air: Increase the amount of indoor plants. Indoor favourites like rubber plants, philodendrons, palms, peace lilies, gerberas, ivy, and succluents are natural air purifiers, absorbing carbon and other pollutants.
2. Birds and bees: Plant some window boxes of native plants and feed the birds they attract. You could also talk to a local wildlife group to see if you have room for a beehive.
3. Save energy: Investigate switching your energy supplier if you don't already use a mix of renewables. Use natural lighting, LEDs and energy-saving options, and investigate small solar panels and wind turbines for your work space. Use eco-friendly settings and turn off appliances when you aren't using them.
4. Conserve water: Reduce your water use with a filtration system. Harvest your rain water and waste water for use on your garden.
5. Consume sustainably: Check your consumable suppliers and make sure they are green - e.g. sustainably grown tea and coffee; plant-based milk; starch-based cutlery and crockery and straws; swap out all plastics for sustainable options, including for drinking water; use recycled toilet paper and tissues.
6. Choose to reuse: Decorating your office with snazzy secondhand furniture.
7. Offset your carbon: If you aren't a high-flying firm, look at offsetting your road journeys - add up the mileage and use an offset company. According to Greening Australia, a $250 donation will ensure enough native trees are planted to store 5 tonnes of carbon emissions, which covers 12 months of emissions from an average medium-sized car.
8. Support good works: Donate to a local charity (I pledge a small percentage of every project)
9. Go paper-free: And if you can't, then use recycled print ink cartridges and sustainably produced paper.
10. Make others aware: Start your own nature campaign with a 'work from nature' or 'volunteer for wildlife' day. If you have staff and hold client meetings, move one regularly to an outdoor space. Promote this on your social media to help to spread the word and educate those in your business circle about taking the time to be mindful of the importance of nature.
Let me know how you go!
Comments