simple + green

image credit: Pablo Tenorio

St. Patrick’s Day has special significance, but most people know it just for the beer we’re encouraged to drink.

And does anyone outside of Illinois know that the Chicago River is dyed green each year for the St. Patrick’s Day celebration? Of course, it’s an environmentally-friendly agent they use for color (nudge, nudge).

In a play on the Green quality of the day, my company is launching our Go Green initiative today.

We’re hosting a late afternoon party, that will include a short talk on what we’re doing and why. But the hook is: the food and drink.

We aimed for local or sustainably-produced beer with organic chips and salsa as the food. So, it probably be Fat Tire that we serve, rather than Harp or Guinness.

We hung new signage around the office, removed all paper cups, forced all shared printers to double-sided printing, and are ramping up our recycling and waste programs.

All work done by a handful of us volunteering to pitch in.

Which makes me think:

For those of you who can make positive changes in your workplace, be it:
- instituting a recycling program
- setting up a Yahoo group for carpooling
- posting stickers near light switches reminding people to turn off when done

Have you done something? Would your company encourage you to do something? Wouldn’t today be the time to start?

Need ideas for how to go green at your office? Try this treehugger article for starters.

Pictures of our launch day forthcoming.