Our environment is as fragile as the economy and therefore, we need to strive hard and strive to save the environment which will in its turn will save our economy. In fact, if we dig a bit deeper, we will be able to understand that neglecting the environment can have disastrous impacts on the economy itself. Apart from the collateral damages in the form of human lives lost, environment, if it is neglected, can lead to famine, flood and what not and not to forget the loss of billions of dollars. However, I am not here to gloss over the issue of ‘world coming to an end’ and the ‘world needs a hero in you’. Nope, you would not have to save the world from an Armageddon; rather the world needs something more important from you and that is making your workplace and home more environmentally sustainable. It is a small step but it will go a long way to ensure the wellbeing of our future generation. Here we are going to discuss some simple steps that are actually doable -

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Walk the Talk
It seems it has become some kind of fashion among business organizations to call themselves as environmentally friendly. But becoming a truly environmentally sustainable organization is not that easy. It is not just about banning the use of paper or asking people not to shut down the PCs when they are off for lunch. That makes an organization environmentally conscious organization. So, if you really care for how your work is impacting the audience, you have to be proactive. For example, you can start by checking the utility bills of the previous quarter.

Try to reduce energy consumption of your organization by shunning some wasteful habits and believe me, you or your organization will not have to make huge sacrifices on any front. You can start off with something simple like asking your employees to switch off lights whenever and wherever possible. And when they are off for a meeting or attending some kind of training, you need to be sure that they are keeping their computers in Hibernation mode. You can save a great amount of energy by installing skylights or switching to fluorescent lighting. And please disable screen savers; they might look great but they are just another method of wasting energy.

And please do not forget to ask for the participation of your employees. Unless and until your employees are actively involved in the process, you will never be able to transform your organization into an environmentally sustainable organization. Incorporate ideas from your employees and believe me this is going to do wonders. 

Think About the wellness of the employees
Staying late at the office is still considered to be a metric to determine how an employee is contributing to the growth of the organization. But as far as the opinions of the experts is concerned, staying late at office is in fact, shows that the employees are unable to meet the deadlines and therefore, they have to stay late to be able to meet the deadlines. Moreover, staying late means, you are consuming more energy than what is actually required. Rather being obsessed with the employees working fingers to the bone, you should be obsessed with how effectively they are working or how efficient they are. You should focus on some other areas as well like making the most of daylights and offering a pleasant view of the outside world to your employees. Believe me, this is going to contribute to overall productivity and make your employees feel encouraged.

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Be Good, Feel Good
The relation between business and environment has been hostile so far. The majority of business organizations do not care about how their works are impacting the environment; all they care about generating more revenue and more profit. But responsible organizations believe otherwise. They try to strive to ensure the fact that the natural resources are not being extracted than the rate at which they are being replenished. Failure to maintain this may lead to a disaster.

So, if you wish to make your business considered as sustainable, you have to think beyond just abiding by the existing laws. Rather businesses should be striving to excel in their field and do more to contribute to the protection of the environment.