1. Environmental Concerns in the Office
What is an ecological footprint?
What environmental concerns exist in an office?
How can I reduce my impact on the environment?

2. What is an ecological footprint?
“The impact of human activities measured in terms of the area of biologically productive land and water required to produce the goods consumed and to assimilate the wastes generated. More simply, it is the amount of environment necessary to produce the goods and services necessary to support a particular lifestyle.”
o_footprint/

3. But Murch! Global warming and climate change isn’t real!

6. At the very least, can’t we just ask for a better world?

7. It’s not just about global warming and climate change… It’s about how fast we are depleting our food and water sources.

8. Why is it important for us to know our ecological footprint?
It has been designed to show the level of natural resources being consumed by the human population of the planet.
Early indications on information gathered indicates that human society is going to have to alter the way it consumes natural resources if current and future human population levels are to be maintained.
It can show the impact of human societies on the planet.
These results can motivate people to seek new and different ways to conserve and protect the world’s natural resources.

9. What factors can affect you ecological footprint?
Your ecological footprint takes into consideration your ENTIRE lifestyle!
Food consumption and the types of food you eat
Water consumption
Recycling and waste management
Appliances you use and how often you use them
Travel/Transport
Home (location, heating, materials it is built with)

10. Earth Overshoot Day
This is a calculation of how quickly the world’s population is using the Earth’s natural resources. On Earth Overshoot Day, this is when humanity’s usage of natural resources surpasses our allotted “budget” for that year.
This year, Earth Overshoot day was on August 1st.

11. Earth Overshoot Day

12. What is YOUR Ecological Footprint?
Go to:
Now remember, the test is only as good as the accuracy of its source. Be as specific as you can whenever possible!
For example, you may need to Google the fuel consumption of your car (or your parents).

13. Before we take the test…
Here’s a video to sum up our discussion and introduce some keywords we will find on our ecological footprint test.

14. Assignment Determine your ecological footprint.
Explore your results. Ex. What countries have the highest and lowest effects on the environment?
Create a Word document.
Take a screenshot of your ecological footprint results (2 screenshots: one of your Earth Overshoot Day and one of your actual ecological footprint)
Answer the questions on the next slide and write your answers on your Word Document.

15. Assignment
Questions: *to find some of this information, you must click on “explore” after your results.
How does your footprint compare to the average Canadian? List your number, the Canadian average, and explain how yours compares to the average Canadian.
List three things you do currently that help to minimize your footprint.
List thing things you do that increase your ecological footprint.
What are 3 things you could do different now to reduce the size of your ecological footprint?
How many Ethiopians would use the same amount of resources as you? (Take your ecological foot print and divide it by the ecological footprint of someone from Ethiopia).
Reflection: Discuss your results. Are you surprised? How do you feel now that you have your results?
Why do you think many countries in Africa and Asia have negative ecological footprints?
Why do you think Canada’s ecological footprint is positive?
** this to me once completed.

16. My Results…

17. My Results…

18. How can we reduce our ecological footprint in the office?
Buy environmentally friendly products
Purchase and use energy efficient products
Use refillable products (eg. Ink cartridge)
Use recyclable products
Usually only about 5% more in cost
Use electricity wisely!
Turn off all devices when not in use (this includes printers and computers)
If there is a sleep mode, set it to automatically go to sleep after a few minutes of inactivity

19. How can we reduce our ecological footprint in the office?
Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle (RRR)
Paper
Disposable cups (reuse or use a thermos/mug)
Reusable or refillable products
Use non-toxic cleaning products
Nature Clean
Norwex
Method
Ecover

20. How can we reduce our ecological footprint in the office?
Make eco-friendly food choices
Going out to eat? Try a closer location so that you can walk
Cut down on the amount of meat you eat
Great reason to start a diet!
Telecommuting or carpooling
Keeping machines and vehicles regularly serviced.
Casual dress code!
Having to wear suits in the hot summer can help keep employees cooler and thus cut down on electricity used to cool down the building

21. How can we reduce our ecological footprint in the office?
Go paperless!
When you need to print, double-side your printing!
If you are just printing out a rough draft of a document, print it on scrap paper.
Some printers have eco-friendly options for amount of ink use.