Climate champion at work

Whether you're a truck driver, office worker, janitor, teacher, CEO, farmer, or concerned parent, you have the power to help solve the climate crisis through making changes in your job and at your workplace. Here are a few tips to help you identify ways to save energy -- and the climate -- at work.

• Look around you for inspiration. Keep your eyes peeled and ears open for common-sense ways to make small changes every day that can add up to a big impact, especially when others notice your ideas and join in. Lighting, computers, copiers, air conditioners, heaters, fans, appliances, equipment, doors, windows, and vents -- everything that uses energy or keeps hot or cool air in or out is an opportunity to save. For example, if you work in a retail shop, you could close the door in the summer while the air conditioning is on rather than cooling the street outside.
• Rethink the obvious. Consider the materials you're using, where they come from, how they're procured, energy usage in manufacturing processes, task and process order, waste generation -- the whole start-to-finish effort -- and then take action. Can you use raw materials that require less process energy? Can you optimize component layout to reduce the size of energy-intensive packaging materials? Can you provide and schedule services to cut down on the miles and hours a truck has to drive?
• Repurpose waste. Can waste and scrap be used for something in your business or someone else's? Could you even turn it into something profitable? For example, when a steel company got together with a cement plant they developed a new process that turned cheap steel slag into a valuable component of cement, with significantly fewer CO2 emissions and 15% less energy use.
• Talk and share. Hold a town meeting or company gathering where people can tell each other about their jobs and share ideas. Someone may have a friend who knows of a different way of approaching a task that solves a bottleneck or generates incremental business. One of your colleagues may know of a great video conferencing service that will save the company money and reduce climate change impacts of air travel. Also, start an electronic bulletin board where ideas can be posted.
• Be an everyday hero. Think about how your actions, suggestions, and attitude influence dozens (or hundreds) of people just like you every single day. If, each day, a few of people see your concern about the climate crisis in action and are inspired to change their approach, take action themselves, or think more about the issue, the impact can be dramatic. Be a role model and key influencer in everything you do, day in and day out, and help create a climate-aware culture.