The following green measures help reduce the impact of a business office on the environment:

1. Reduce or eliminate disposables
   • We use cotton hand towels for hand-drying to replace paper towels
   • We use flatware to replace plastic utensils
   • We use dishes to replace plastic and paper plates
   • We use glasses to replace plastic and paper cups
   • We use handmade chopsticks to replace take-out disposables
   • We do not accept disposable items with our take-out orders
   • We use refillable recycled plastic pens to replace completely disposable pens

     

2. Use recycled and completely recyclable paper products
   • Our written materials are printed on 100% recycled printer/copy paper
   • We wipe with 100% recycled paper towels and napkins
   • We write notes on 30% recycled paper stickies
   • Meeting and retreat presentations are drawn on 30% recycled paper easel pads
   • We take notes on 30% recycled paper legal pads
   • Our reports are printed on 30% recycled card stock and glossy paper
3.  Reduce garbage / Increase recycling
   • Comprised of four full-time and one part-time employees, our staff discard an average of one 5-gallon bag of garbage per week
   • On the other hand, we recycle an average of three 16x10x12 boxes of recyclables per week, including paper, junk mail, plastic bags, plastic and glass bottles, milk and juice cartons, cans, cardboard, and newspapers
4. Reduce use of energy
   • Lighting in our reception was reduced from six 17-watt two-foot fluorescent tubes to one 23-watt fluorescent coil
   • Staff who do not work from home power off their computers at the close of business dialy
   • Most staff work with natural lighting, hardly ever using the 68-watt overhead light fixtures
   • All lights are turned off at the close of business daily
5. Use live plants to fill spaces
   • Our 7.5 room office space houses 17 oxygen-producing plants and three orchids
6. Use environmentally friendly products
   • Acid-free and soy inks
   • Acid-free and unbleached paper products
   • Phosphate-free detergents
   • Non-chemical fertilizers
   • Reduce or eliminate plastics
7. Work a four-day workweek
   • 50% of our staff work a four-day workweek
8. No electronics to landfills
   • Used office equipment, computers, and cellphones are donated or recycled
9. Reduce carbon emmissions / Commute to work
   • Our staff use ferry or bus to commute to work

Some urban office myths:

• Leaving lights on all the time saves energy
  • only fluorescent tubes consume greater quantities of energy during a 30-second "warming" period
• Turning your computer on and off damages the hard drive
  • on the contrary, leaving your machine running forever builds up cluttering temporary files that are erased during hard boot
• Bio-degradeable plastics and styrofoams
  • distantly biological perhaps, both manufactured from petroleum—but unless they dissolve into a nondescript jelly when exposed to water, they are not "bio-degradeable"