November, 2009–

Ahh the abnormally clean marble bathrooms of an office complex. You know, the ones that require a key, walking through two extremely heavy firedoors and then into that palace of mirrors and more mirrors and rows of sinks… In my office bathroom at least, there is ALWAYS one sink running.  Yes, I have told floor management, that has called facilities, time after time…however, the faucet is regularly running.

Un-Green Workday Rant #7: Why do some people care so little about precious resources that they can’t be bothered to make sure the faucet has stopped running?

The thing about this faucet is that it is supposed to be on “automatic shutoff” which is actually designed to eliminate water waste. However, this particular faucet requires that you fiddle with the buttons and “pull them up” until the faucet stops running. It is very annoying and adds about 15 seconds to your bathroom run. Wow- 15 seconds. I guess when you are billable at $500 an hour (as many lawyers on our floor likely are) then 15 seconds might actually count for something…but really?

No, it is that people can’t be bothered! They will try to shut it off for about 1 second and then give up.

Solution? I don’t know! Exercise Voice and have everyone storm facilities (why isn’t it fixed? I don’t know!) or simply educate people about the importance of preserving, not wasting? But these are smart people. Educated at least…

I don’t have a solution to except….

Un-Green Workday Rant #7 Solution: Just make sure the faucet is completely off before you leave! If it is truely broken, go to reception, go to facilities, to building management. Do something! Don’t just walk away.

Really, it’s that simple….. can’t we all just try?!

Every night, weekends too…. just drive across the Mall on 7th Street and independence and look up- you’ll see two empty federal DOT buildings….with all the lights on.

But Obama (Read article) wants agencies to work on carbon reduction measures and to report within 90 days. How about ” Hey everyone! we really don’t need to keep all federal buildings lit up all night and weekend!” I live in DC…the fed workday is 9-5….Saturday at 11pm is unlikely to have many worker…and they could just turn on the light to their own office, even if they want to work that late!

Really, if it is a security measure….and our gov is serious about reducing our carbon footprint, then they need to come up with a better solution.

Green Rant: JUST TURN OF THE LIGHTS AT NIGHT and on WEEKENDS!!!!!!!

Well, we all knew that getting rid of our landlines was probably not the best idea….. but still, shocking to see how low my cell phone ranks….

Environmental Working Group (EWG) put out a great listing of how the majority of US cell phones rank based on radiation emittance…

Check out the article and find out how fried your brain is here

I know, I usually rant about Washington, DC, or at least the US in general, but sometimes its good to institute a change of pace….and as I sit here enjoying the tropical sun of this beautiful country, it bothers me more than ever that I just had to put a perfectly good empty can of soup into the trash.

Now, I could have kept the can and put it in the “recycling stack” I thought of creating, but it would have just sat there forever because I cannot figure out how to recycle in Trinidad!

I shouldn’t say there isn’t recycling, b/c I did see a paper recycling bin (tiny!) outside of SuperPharm up at Price Plaza….but other than that, not much else.

Offices don’t recycle in general. There is no home-side recycling pickup (but the Trash is picked up 4 times a week…..!)

Un-Green Country Rant #1: If you can be industrial enough to extract oil out of the earth, surely you can figure out how to institute a country-wide recycling policy?

Does anyone know anything about recycling in Trinidad?!

Until then, we just try to reuse…. big, plastic water jugs can be used for lots of purposes, check out

Decided to try to find the answer to “Can you recycle plastic drinking straws”….and i’m still looking. Came across this cool site, however, where lots of people came up with creative ways to REUSE straws (and other things!)

Check it out here

Reusing, then recycling is the best method anyhow.

July 19, 2009

I’m a good green citizen. I only turn on the a/c when Washington becomes unbarable. I turn off my computer at night. I’m slightly psycho about recycling at home/work and can often be seen walking around with an empty bottle/can waiting until I find a place to recycle it.  I am, however, guilty of slurping down the contents of a purchased coffee/drink and standing at a corner thinking “erh….can I even recycle this type of cup and what about the straw?” And then, sad to admit, often having to trash it because I can’t walk around with it, or believe that it probably can’t be recycled anyhow.

Actually, if I am in the District this doesn’t happen since they seem to accept most products for recycling, but other states? No idea if the straw/starbucks cup’s number is equivalent to the recycling laws.

Un-Green Workday Rant #7: Why don’t more people take the time to know the recycling laws of their city and remind stores that they should have a place to recycle items?

Easy Solution #1: To being to understand recycling laws, by state, visit www.greenmeetup.com and click on Regulations. Here you will find listed, by state (and in D.C.!) both a link to the State’s website that deals with recycling, as well as the actual legislation regarding recycling.

Look up your State! Know the rules! Then you can more easily exercise Voice and create change (nice, huh?)

Easy Solution #2: Once you know your county/state/city’s laws, go to stores/lunch places, etc and say

“You: hey, noticed you don’t have a recycling bin….”

“Store owner: oh, that is because the District only recycles 1,2″

“You: no, actually, that isn’t true anymore! Here, take a look at this, see, the District actually takes most plastics! Your cups are included”.

Then hand them a small paper with the website/rules and maybe your contact info….who knows, you might be able to become a Green Consultant on the side!

Question: Can one recycle straws, anywhere? I’ll do some research and let you know! I’m looking for a good straw solution, anyone have one?

On way to business meeting yesterday and there one stood, in its ultimate blue glory, right on the corner of 7th and NJ Ave/Pennsylvania Ave. Right next to a trashcan and right across from Starbucks (which, one might note, does NOT have a recycling bin inside, even though they sell newspapers).

Yea for the District.

Spot any other recycling bins? Please let me know!

May 29, 2009

I’ve noticed an interesting office phenomenon- if something comes with “free shipping” then everyone just assumes you might as well order it on-line and have it delivered right to the office door! Okay, free shipping is great if you have to receive the item by mail….but how about this: You could just WALK THERE and pick it up!

Un-Green Rant # 6: If you can easily WALK to the store to pick up the item, then why do most people still order it on-line?

You might think this strange, but let me give you a classic example: Office Supplies!

If you work in downtown Washington, DC (for example), you are likely within a 2 block radius of a Staples. So yes, you can get “free shipping” and have those ink cartridges shipped every time they run dry, or just a few packages of paper, here and there….or you could walk down the street, buy the product, and save on extra shipping and packaging materials and on the oil/fuel/human resource it takes to get the product to your office door! 

Think about it:

If you walk to the store, your carbon footprint is about as close to “0″ as possible.

If you decide to order the item on-line, your item’s final “carbon footprint” will be much higher. For example, your item might have to be flown to a central processing center, then shipped by truck to another center, then further dived up between drivers…by the time it reaches you, it’s carbon footprint could easily be 10x  greater.

So, your boss might say, “you want to walk to Staples and pick up 5 rimes of paper, 4 cartridges and 8 packs of pens? You want to carry that in this heat? Be my guest”.

Easy Solution #1: Buy a collapsible grocery cart and keep it in a closet in the office!

Really, a walk up the street won’t kill you. It will likely even do you good! And if you can’t walk up the street, try to be conscientious about your orders.

Easy Solution #2: Order as many items as possible together at one time.

This will likely cut down on the amount of packaging and individual trips the vendor must make to deliver your items.

Don’t just think about “free” in monetary terms- think about “free” as in “carbon free”!

10 Steps to Greener loves- Collapsible shopping carts (Buy Here)

Why is it so hard for people to turn the lights off?  In fact, it isn’t just lights, its all office electronics …but I’ll just rant about the lights for now. Why?  It’s 1am and you are walking down a deserted downtown (any downtown) and half of the tall, concrete masses are completely lit up.

Rant #4: Why can’t people off the lights in the office before they leave?

  Here are possible reasons:

• They want  everyone tosee if the late night, poorly paid, cleaning staff are really vacuuming
• They want everyone to see if any late night “hey, I’ve always fantasized about doing X on my boss’s desk” behavior is going on
• Because people are too lazy to bother to save energy and money by switching off the lights
• Because some office buildings do not have light switches

I’m guessing it is the latter too. I did a bit of research and was amazed to find out that the last option is actually true (Read more here)- How can that be? I would assume that all new buildings require energy saving measures (including the obvious- the ability to shut off lights, but will have to check this out further. After all I can’t control the head/air-con in my building!)

So let’s focus on the second to last bullet- lazy people. I suppose there might be some people walking around that still subscribe to the theory that “more energy is consumed by switching off the light than by keeping it on.” I thought I would look into whether there was even some merit to this idea…turns out, there is…but just a bit.

I’ll let you read more about it (Read more here) but here’s the deal: Most offices use florescent lights. Most homes use Incandescent lights (bulbs). These bulbs (which should be replaced with Compact Florescent Lightbulbs) should be turned off whenever not in use…but office lights are a bit different. I guess it does take a bit more energy to get the light going, once you have turned the switch on, so you have to calculate whether the  energy it will take to get the light on again is more than the energy you will save if the light is off…. but according to the Department of Energy, seems you can basically say “I won’t need the light for at least 15 minuets” (turn it off) or “I’ll need it again in 5″ (leave it on.”

Either way- This does not answer why people leave the lights on all day/all night! I’m pretty sure that except at the CIS/NSA- no one is working all night in these buildings! And if, G-d forbid, you have to come in late one night- well the energy consumption/saving described above would obvioulsy suggest you should just turn the light on.

Easy Solution # 1: Turn off the light

Easy Solution# 2: Remind everyone else to turn off the light!

10 Steps to Greener Recommends : Turn off the light after everyone else…as you (oh so kindly) remind them that energy that electricity is not free and has a high environmental cost

10 Steps to Green Also Recommends: Talk to your building manager about turning off hallway lights and ensuring cleaning staff turns off lights

And if your building does not have light switches- Start a bloody petition and make change happen!

On the corner of Connecticut and L street there are approximately 10 newspaper metal containers (not sure what the proper word is). You can pick up the Post, Times, NY Times, Wall Street Journal, you name it…. Washington, DC recently launched a new website to show its dedication to “Green”, but I have NEVER seen a paper recycling bin on public streets.

Rant #4: Why doesn’t the District have any recycling bins on its streets?

Like the eco-minded citizen that I am, I take the bus to work each day (although, occasionally in warm weather I must admit i take my scooter). By the bus stop there are also an assortment of newspaper holders, sometimes a trashcan but definitely no recycling bin.

What are you supposed to do with the newspaper after you have read it? Obviously, you could put it back, but more likely you take it on the bus with you. It is generally acceptable to “leave” your newspaper on the bus for the next reader. However, I have noticed that at the end of the bus line (I used to take the S2/S4 that ends at McPherson Square) the driver does a “sweep” of the bus and picks up trash. I’m pretty sure he does not carry around newspapers all day until he finds a recycling bin….

Easy Solution #1: Put a recycling bin/container on the bus (similar to the bins for newspapers in many DC metro stations!)

Easy Solution #2: Put a bin for “shared newspapers” on the bus- encourage users to put their extra reading material in this place (and encourage literacy at the same time as practicing eco-friendly behavior!)

Easy Solution #3: Put recycling receptacles around the city!
10 Steps to Greener will follow up with the District Government about this. Will keep you posted!