How your business can get involved this Earth Hour!
As Earth Hour 2023 approaches, MPE Group takes a look at what it is and how your business can be involved!
Earth Hour is one full hour where millions of people across the world switch off their lights to show support for the planet. It was started in Sydney by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in 2007. It is held on the last Saturday of March each year from 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm in your local time zone.
Earth Hour engages millions of people in more than 180 countries and territories and is all about spreading awareness of environmental issues in our global and local communities.
Making the commitment to switch off this Earth Hour can help encourage a shift towards more sustainable practices in your business. Here are some tips to integrate ongoing Earth Hour practices into your organisation.
Create a sustainability crew
Ownership in change is one of the best ways to embed sustainability into the culture of your organisation. If possible, involve your landlord and someone from management or head-office in your group.
Use this group to help set organisational goals and develop green initiatives. These can be as simple as reviewing your recycling strategy or as intensive as auditing your organisation’s energy use. Remember to keep initiatives fun and interactive to get maximum buy-in!
Reusable cups
Australians use around one billion disposable coffee cups each year, but coffee cups are not generally accepted through recycling collections so most end up in landfill.
A Keep Cup is a great option, and one way to encourage their use is to get business branded keep cups for your staff or use them as prizes for employee of the month or sustainability person of the month!
Switch off
While computers are essential to running an organisation these days, they’re also a major energy vampire. Encourage switching off monitors for lunch breaks and meetings as screensavers do not actually save energy. You can also set up a hibernation feature so your computer can automatically conserve energy when it is inactive for more than a few minutes.
Put up signs around the office to remind people to unplug devices from charging before leaving the office. A great next step is to put all lighting and air conditioner systems in your work place on sensors or timers. This can have a huge impact on the overall electricity consumption for your business.
Reduce paper use
Encourage staff to use an online cloud based platform like Google Docs to share and work on documents collaboratively instead of printing. If printing is necessary, always print double sided on recycled paper. Look for the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) logo that shows the timber or paper product have been sourced from forests that are managed responsibly, avoiding deforestation and habitat destruction.
Buy Earth friendly
Try to buy office products that don’t cost the Earth. There are a few simple environmental credentials you can look for when making purchasing decisions, such as Fair Trade, Good Environmental Choice Australia (GECA) and National Carbon Offset Standard (NCOS). Choose products that use minimal packaging, are made from post-consumer recycled materials and can be recycled at the end of their life.
Go carbon neutral!
Becoming 100% certified carbon neutral is a big step but one that businesses should take seriously to demonstrate their commitment to creating a sustainable future.
To achieve carbon neutral certification, organisations must measure emissions, reduce these where possible, offset remaining emissions and publicly report on their carbon neutrality.
This year for Earth Hour, consider how your business can make an ongoing commitment to sustainability for the future of our Earth.