For those who don't know ZipCar, it's a car rental service, available in five major cities throughout the US, that allows members to rent cars parked in a number of easily-accessed spots throughout the city for only as long as they need them. Rates are billed either hourly or daily depending on usage, and you can rent a car easily through the website and walk to a spot within 5-10 minutes from wherever you happen to be. You hold your membership card up to the windshield, the car unlocks and the ignition engages (wirelessly and keylessly), and you're on your way. You just park the car back in the same spot you picked it up in, and the car will send the trip data back to ZipCar with the number of hours you used it for billing. Since its founding in about 2000, ZipCar has grown to about 2,000 cars in 5 major cities, and about 20 members on average end up using each car?which means 19 fewer parking spaces needed, 19 fewer cars on the road, and huge cost savings for the members, not to mention the environmental savings.
Among other inspirational tips Robin shared with the group, the tip that resonated with me the most was this: be aware of your inputs and outputs. When you make a business decision, what are you consuming? What are you putting back out there? One of the examples that Robin mentioned was that she refused to buy disposable cups/plates/silverware/etc. for the ZipCar office?if people wanted to have coffee or tea, they would have to bring their own mugs, and the same with dishes. She also had two printers in the office?one with used paper and one with new. Anything that was printed for in-house use was printed on the used paper; information for customers would be printed on the new paper.
Hearing Robin speak about the ways that she made the ZipCar office greener got me thinking about my own inputs and outputs, how I'm trying to lessen the environmental impact of the zen kitchen's daily operation, and how I can improve on what I'm doing and make the office even greener. Here are a few of the things on my list of outputs:
- I always keep recycled paper in the office printer, and put one-sided waste paper in the tray when I?m finished with the document.
- I've instituted a primarily PDF-based workflow in the office, sending customers digital proofs instead of printing them, which saves significant amounts of paper.
- Since it's primarily a home office, I don't use disposable anything, and I use cotton towels and sponges for cleaning instead of paper towels.
- I don't leave water running when I'm washing my hands, brushing my teeth, or doing dishes.
- I also try to be very conscientious about recycling, and I use shopping bags to throw away trash instead of buying new plastic bags.
- Since I moved to Somerville and opened the zen kitchen, I've rarely had to drive?most of my work has been in the office, and even when I have to go onsite for a client or meeting, I can often take the T instead of driving.
While I definitely think these are good outputs, there are definitely a few places where I can improve:
- On the days when I do have to leave the office for work, I have a tendency to eat out. A LOT. This means disposable dishes and silverware. It also means I'm not eating as healthy as I should be.
- I have a tendency to keep too much, and convince myself that I need things I don't. That means I end up buying things I don't really need more often than not, and those things, once I've realized I don't need them anymore, usually end up getting thrown away or donated.
- While I don't drive my car that often, I'm not always as mindful about maintenance as I should be. I could improve my mileage vastly if I got a tuneup.
So it looks like, while so far I've been doing pretty good, there's still room to make the zen kitchen even greener?remembering to bring a travel mug with me, for example, when I feel like grabbing an iced tea, or remembering to bring reusable bags when I go shopping. After all, even using them as trash bags, with the amount I cook I still have them piled up in the bag holder!
What do you put out there? What do you take in?
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Dani Nordin is the principal of the zen kitchen, a graphic and web design studio specializing in eco-friendly marketing materials, branding, and standards-based web design. The studio helps small to large businesses and non-profit organizations create a more consistent and effective image, while helping them send an environmentally and socially responsible message to their target audience. For more information, visit http://tzk-design.com.
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Comments: 9
I do well at recycling, though, almost to a fault. My roommates roll their eyes when I pull things out of the trash and chide them.
Our recycling barrel (blue) gets just as full, if not fuller, than the trash barrel (black). If we had to separate the stuff here, I might not be as enthusiastic, but we don't have to; all in one barrel.
We have another barrel (green) for yard clippings, tree branch pruning, weeds, etc. as well. I think they make mulch out of it for the City parks and stuff.
Thanks for publishing to The Renewed Activist.
It is funny, because the first time I went to the center, I saw that they have a place for metal, glass, milk bottles, other plastic bottles (#2), cardboard, and furniture. They also only use their land fill for yard waste, and not "trash", as it is referred to in the big city, but there are still people who show up there and put everything into the compactor.
Next year, however, all of the food and yard waste from my 1 1/2 acre estate are going to make my vegetables grow bigger and be tastier. This year, my first year, my farm produced Rhubarb, zucchini, corn, tomatoes, raspberries, crabapples, tormitillos, and currants. Next year, we will be adding blueberries. Also next year, the vegetable garden will be much bigger! I used my tent (leaving it up all summer) to kill the grass (big field) in a large space so that it would be easier to work.
We take all of our yard waste to the 'brush dump' and pay only $10/year to be members. This also gives us access to the recycling center. The town then makes mulch and woodchips and people can use it elsewhere. I always shiver when I see people putting yard waste into plastic bags and then out with the regular trash. $10/year to keep extra stuff out of landfills, to me it seems to be a bargain!
Good point about bringing your travel mug...most places give you a discount if you use your own cup. :)
About 10 years ago I implemented a home - worker system in Europe for a large multi - national. It saved a lot of money and a huge amount of energy and resources (in the UK we closed the 20+ area offices and only had to keep 8 regional offices running) Technology has moved on a lot, yet working from home has never really taken off. Surely its not beyond the wit of management to address the motivation issues. People who work for themselves like you and me never seem to have a motivation problem. In fact I found I got more done at home because there were less distractions.
I know what you mean about less distractions, although I have to admit the amount of times I stop work to wash dishes or other various housework is a bit of a pain.