Office paper usage, Nashville-style

Howdy out there in TPR land...
We here in Nashville hope that you're heading into fall with full hearts and well-rested heads.

In light of the recent post on paper usage AND the email that Suellen sent a couple days ago, I thought I'd share a sad moment from our office on Wednesday.


Through some evil demon in our printer, Stephanie ended up unintentionally printing out a giant stack of financial stuff, maybe like 100 one-sided sheets.

I thought it was quite timely, since it happened on the same say as Suellen's email about saving paper :)

Anyway, I must qualify the above by saying that I LOVE how green we are in Nashville. We got digital thermostats installed when we had to have the a/c fixed a couple months ago, and our Director of Outreach, Lauren, has us set up with a recycling company, Earth Savers, so that when we DO have to "trash" stuff, at least it's not all going into a landfill.

And Stephanie still has the stack of paper sitting on her desk. She's going to use it instead of post-it notes.

Use being green to your advantage

Well, we're officially eight months into 2008 and most of our New Year's resolutions to be healthy and exercise have probably gone out the window. Why not use the TPR Green Challenge to re-up your goals? 

Integrating environmentally safe activities into our daily lives can be a great way to stay healthy and get in better shape while helping the earth. Rather than driving to work, try riding your bike twice a week. Not only will you be helping reduce your carbon footprint, you'll be exercising and seeing parts of your town you haven't seen before. You'll also start the workday with more energy than you would had you driven. (See how much of a difference this one step can make here. )

According to A.C. Nielson, the average American watches four or more hours of TV a day, or 9 years of a 65-year life. Instead of automatically turning on the tube when you get home, play some tennis, go for a jog, or just walk around the block. Not only will you use far less electricity, the earth, and your spouse, will thank you for it.

Going Green in the Office

Week 1: Reduce Your Use – Paper

1. Use Less

a. Use both sides of a sheet of paper. Most fax machines and printers can perform two-sided printing. Set the default configuration to two-sided, or duplex, printing. Defaulting to that setting means you won’t have to think about changing the setting every time you want to print something, and you’ll only have to take an extra step when you want one-sided printing.

b. Double-check your work before you print. Not only is printing a hundred copies of a letter only to realize you’ve committed a grammatical gaff a pain in the butt, it’s also awfully wasteful. Have another pair of eyes go over the letter before it hits the presses. Hint: SAT, ACT, and GMAT teachers are fantastic proofreaders.

c. Print what you need. For instance, if you need to print an email, chances are there’s way more text than you actually need. Copy and paste what you want into a Word document before printing.

2. Go Paperless
a. Instead of printing out a document for your colleagues to review, activate “Track Changes” (under the “Tools” menu or hit Ctrl + Shift + E) and email it out. That way, people can read, make suggestions on, edit your work, and send it right back. Best of all, you can just hit “Accept Changes” to incorporate their feedback. Less work for everyone!

b. Don’t print out a spreadsheet because multiple people need to use or edit it. Save it on a network folder, and share the worksheet by going to “Tools → Share Workbook”. That way, more than one person can have the document open concurrently and everyone can make changes and update.

c. Doing a presentation? Ask yourself whether all attendees need a printout of your PowerPoint. Is it something they’re going to toss after the meeting, or does it have valuable reference information? If your office has a laptop and projector, think about using them for the presentation instead of distributing printouts.

d. Configure your fax machine to send you an email with a scan of the fax instead automatically printing out every fax. Not one of the “hot stock tips” we’ve received has paid off this year…

e. Rethink student kits. Many offices distribute an auto-run CD-ROM with student materials instead of multiple printouts. They’re easy to create and ensure students are getting the appropriate information. If you’d like a sample, contact Princeton Tutoring at Josh.

Next Time: How to Use Less Energy in the Office

Plugging-in (hybrids) and other techniques to be a greener teacher

#1: Saving Gas

As tutors and teachers, we enjoy the privilege of near-constant driving on the wonderfully maintained and blissfully under-crowded road system of these United States. Unfortunately, the high cost of gas and concomitant release of vast clouds of carbon dioxide can really put a damper on this otherwise joyous process. Transportation is one of the biggest contributors anthropogenic atmospheric C02, accounting for almost a third of total emissions. With this in mind, this week’s green teacher tip is a list of 5 ways to boost your MPG and reduce both your carbon and plastic (wallet) footprints.

1. Make sure your tires are properly inflated; check your pressure once a month and fill the tires up to the PSI level indicated by the manufacturer

2. Keep your engine tuned-up and have your air and oil filters replaced when you get an oil change

3. Don’t use your car as your personal tutoring office. I know, those MCAT books are a pain to haul back and forth between your car and the house, but all that extra weight can noticeably affect fuel consumption

4. Try to plan your schedule so that you can avoid multiple trips to the same far away area. Have two students in the same town that’s 20 miles away? See if they can both meet on Tuesday. It’s a longer workday, but you haven’t wasted half of your pay on gas and you can feel good about helping the environment.

5. Don’t drive so #$@!ing aggressively. Rapid stops and starts are one of the fastest ways to burn gas (as well as wear down your car). Every time you brake you’re wasting all of that energy that you put into accelerating the car to that speed. Red light or stop sign ahead? Coast to it in neutral rather than speeding up until the last possible moment just to cut off that jerk next to you so you can give him the finger. (applies especially to those of us in the Northeast)

6. Bonus tip – bike or take mass transit whenever possible. Avoid the traffic jams, get in shape, and save the planet all at once! (plus, spandex shorts are so in)

These ‘techniques’ represent only the tip of the rapidly melting iceberg as far as ways to save gas and reduce your driving emissions. More comprehensive lists can be found all over the web, but a good place to start is: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/06/66-gas-saving-tips.php. Happy driving and feel free to submit your own teacher eco-tips to Josh.

Welcome!

Welcome to the our online meeting place for the first ever TPR Green Challenge. This is a place where I'd encourage you to share stories of steps you and your team are taking this summer, to lighten your carbon footprint. Feel free to brag, post photos and videos, even trash-talk other teams! I know that we here in NY are ready to hit the ground running. We've already pledged to only eat locally harvested oysters this summer. And with that . . . let the games begin!