1. S USTAINABLE WORKPLACES Paul van der Werf

2. O VERVIEW Making sense of sustainability? What are our environmental impacts? How can we make our work activities more sustainable? Let’s leave today with a few practical ideas we can incorporate right away.

3. SUSTAINABILITY We hear lots of jargon like: Carbon foot print Green Environmentally friendly Sustainable

4. SUSTAINABILITY “...meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.” Brundtland Commission, 1987

5. How do we turn qualitative concepts into quantitative outcomes?

6. W HAT IS E NVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ? Our impact comes down to one simple concept and that is consumption “The act or process of consuming.”

7. W HAT IS E NVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ? As a result of obtaining what we consume As a result of the wastes generated through consumption

8. I N MORE PRACTICAL TERMS Building Manufacturing Heating/Cooling Transportation Chemicals Living Others?

9. D ISTILLING SOURCES OF E NVIRONMENTAL IMPACT Energy usage Water usage Material usage Waste generation

14. E NERGY At home we consume about 2,500 kwh per year One 100 watt light bulb on for 24 hours uses about 2.5 kwh One Compact Fluorescent Bulb uses about 0.5 kwh Energy is required to make electricity. Carbon dioxide and pollution result.

15. E NERGY

18. W ATER Residents consume about 250 litres person every day Think about what that means throughout the year Volume of 250Filling up tank 4 times per day

19. W ATER In 1996 Canada’s population was 29 million About 1,500,000 litres/year per resident Of that a little less than 10% or about 135,000 litres/year was for personal use 370 litres/day 1981198619911996 Total intake million cubic metres Total, whole economy 36,71742,08344,97944,873 Business sector 32,95738,36341,17840,951 Personal and government sectors 3,7603,7193,8023,922

20. W ASTE Residents throw away about 250 kilograms of waste per person per year Weight of 250 In London has decreased since 1990 In Canada continues to increase Business waste increasing even faster

21. W ASTE

22. Q UANTITY VS Q UALITY Need to think about consumption in terms of: QUANTITY QUALITY What impact does the quality of our consumption have on the environment Pesticides versus no pesticides Green power versus conventional power Quality is the impact of our consumption beyond the amount of resources used – manifest as pollution and other impacts

23. E NVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OUTCOMES Poor resource use-financial implications Poor resource use-less able to support the population Pollution-health impacts

24. W HY S USTAINABILITY AT WORK ? There are risks involved with continuing with the status quo: Exposure to risk of increased environmental legislation (eg. carbon taxes) Exposure to risk of increased cost of natural resources (e.g. rising cost of water and electricity) Damage to brand, or consumer backlash

25. R EDUCING E NVIRONMENTAL IMPACT AT WORK What is our impact on the environment at work? What can we do to reduce our impact at work?

26. E NVIRONMENTAL IMPACT AT WORK Impact can be split into two main areas From buildings and process From workers Impact into air, water and earth

27. E NVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

28. Impact SourceImpact Types Buildings and Processes  Building Construction  Building Operation and Maintenance  Work processes Workers  Work processes  Sustenance  Transport

29. E NVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

30. W HAT WE CAN DO ? Understand that our environmental impact is very closely tied to our consumption Develop a Sustainability Plan to reduce environmental impact and help guide activities It includes benchmarking, planning, implementation and review

31. S USTAINABILITY PLAN Develop a Sustainability Plan to help guide activities Requires top down and bottom up participation Management – recognize importance Staff- fully participate in opportunities Embrace change

32. C ONSUMPTION IS TIED TO MONEY Everything we consume costs money Everything we don’t consume costs money We have largely been taught to ignore this There is a greater appreciation of this right now

33. “S MART C ONSUMPTION ” 1. What is the environmental impact of making this product; 2. What is the environmental impact of using this product; and 3. What is the environmental impact after this product has lost its usefulness. We need to engage in what I like to call smart consumption. This is a thought process where we think about the environmental impacts of our purchases in three distinct stages

34. E NERGY Energy efficient construction Business energy audits. Minimize energy use during business hours and after hours Encourage alternative forms of transportation Where practical encourage other forms of work – such as telecommuting Mayor’s Sustainable Energy Council. web page with some good information for residents (and business)

35. E NERGY HTTP :// WWW. MSEC. LONDON. CA / HTTP :// WWW. MSEC. LONDON. CA /

36. E NERGY HTTP :// WWW. MSEC. LONDON. CA / HTTP :// WWW. MSEC. LONDON. CA /

37. W ATER Review processes to make sure water is being use efficiently Reduce water usage and water contamination Replace water guzzling toilets with an efficient 6 litre or dual flush toilet – rebates available Toxics out of the drain

38. W ASTE Take advantage of programs to deal with waste Maximize their use Quantity Quality

39. Q UALITY OF CONSUMPTION Previous ideas focus on quantity Quality focuses on composition of consumption. How polluting are processes? e.g. Greening of Cancer Prevention (Source: Toronto Public Health) Clean production Toxics use reduction Green chemistry Safe substitution

40. CONCLUSIONS Sustainability relates to managing the quantity and quality of consumption Managing consumption can have beneficial economic, social and of course environment outcomes All businesses from small to large can participate Many small steps result in large collective beneficial impacts.

41. S OURCES OF INFORMATION USED The Clear Network http://www.clear.london.cahttp://www.clear.london.ca http://msec.london.ca/ Stats Canada Environment Canada

42. T HANK - YOU Paul van der Werf My green workplace 519-645-7733 paul@mygreenworkplace.ca www.mygreenworkplace.ca www.2cg.ca