Going Green

This is a topic very close to my heart and one that I feel is so important for our future as a species. I find myself talking about this subject so often with friends and clients, I think about it when I'm shopping, working and going about my day to day life, it sort of feels that it is now taking over all that I do, but I think that is good thing!

We need to start thinking more about how our actions impact our planet and what small differences we can make in our daily lives, which will then add up to a very big difference if we all play our part.

It can be hard knowing here to start on your green journey, when emails first came about, people used to print them to keep a hard copy, then came the message at the bottom of peoples emails asking the recipient not to print it unless they had to. Now I'm sure most people rarely print emails, this small change has now been widely adopted but, will have no doubt, made a big change to paper consumption.

I've been thinking hard about small ways that VA's and Event Organisers are able to become more eco-friendly whilst going about their work.

What search engine do you use?

I'm sure that most of you reading this probably use Google, even I do. But there are green alternatives, such as Ecosia the search engine that plants trees! Ecosia started in 2009 and donates around 80% of its profits to tree planting projects which not only plant trees but also provide an income to workers. In 2019 they had planted over 60 million trees and also built its own solar energy plant to power every search.

Where does your energy come from?

It is probably the one thing we cannot do without. Nearly everything we rely on for our businesses needs power; computer, phone charger, printer (but we are printing less right!?), kettle! All essential to put in a days work in the office. So have you thought about where the power is coming from? Now there are more and more energy suppliers who use 100% renewable energy. Such as Bulb or Octopus who both provide their customers with 100% renewable electricity from solar, wind and hydro.

Bulb who can also supply gas, offest their emissions from their gas supply by supporting carbon reduction projects around the world, they also buy green gas, meaning a percentage of their gas mix comes from renewable sources such as food or farm waste.

Reducing Travel

Most VA's work from home which means they can forgo the daily commute to work. My car feels sort of redundant as I'm lucky that where I live I can also walk to the supermarket rather than drive.

We have all become very skilled in the art of a video calling these days for work meetings, so this is another step towards reducing car travel and carbon emissions of your business.

These are just a few small and I hope easy steps that you can take to start your greener business journey, if we all focus on a few small changes it will add up to a big difference.

bye for now x