So, we're hours away from the big move into our new office (or Global Operations Centre, as I like to think of it). There are a million reasons why this move is incredibly exciting for us -- we'll post photos and stories real soon so that you can see why... And our virtual tour via Google Earth is on its way (or just drop by for a real one!)
Personally, I'm really glad that we're finally going to have a chance to let our physical space reflect the true character and collective values of EchoDitto. We had very little control over our previous spaces because they were managed or shared by other people, and I didn't realize how much that had been affecting me (us?) until now. The best we've really been able to do in terms of lessening our company's social and environmental impact on the world is buy a duplexer for our printer so that we can print on both sides of the [recycled] page (whenever we actually print!) and support union labor for our business cards runs.
Over the past few weeks, however, we've had the opportunity to make some choices about the size of the social and ecological footprint that our new space will make. As an environmental studies major, I admit that I had some fun with this. On the other hand, it was somewhat intimidating to try and model many of our decisions off of our friends at Seventh Generation, since they're, you know, among the world's leaders of corporate social responsibility and green business. Gregor just finished moving Seventh Generation's headquarters into a beautiful new LEED certified building on Lake Champlain in Burlington, so he was kind enough to offer some pointers.
Here's a summary of what we've been able to do thus far with our space, in terms of making it green beyond the color of our carpet:
- Purchased desks made of particleboard, a renewable raw material sourced from "well-managed forests" and from a store, Ikea, that is becoming a leader in corporate sustainability (given how many parts we just finished screwing together, i can vouch that they're definitely saving energy)
- Painted our walls the non-toxic way, with paints that don't contain volatile organic compounds (VOC's). We chose Eco Spec from Benjamin Moore, which was less expensive and gave our independent painters an education in the process!
- Re-cycling some used appliances (fridge, microwave, etc.) instead of purchasing new ones, both of which are new enough to be Energy Star compliant (we need to check)
- Thanks to a very generous office-warming gift from Seventh Generation, we'll be washing our hands and dishes with non-toxic, environmentally-friendly soap; we'll by drying our hands with 100% recycled paper towels and doing what's appropriate with the toilet tissue, as well as keeping our new place clean with Seventh Gen's non-toxic and biodegradable surface cleaners. Really, many many thanks to everyone at Seventh Generation for all of this.
- Now that we have an HVAC dedicated to our floor/office, we'll be able to save energy by keeping the thermostat at reasonable temps (instead of hauling hoodies to the office in July and t-shirts in January).
- There's also a good deal of natural light in our space, which means that we'll be able to save some more energy (and carbon emissions) by keeping most of the lights off. There are also two sets of stairs to choose from, but I don't see us abandoning our talking elevator any time soon.
Then there's everything else that didn't really have an obvious green alternative -- like our hot IP phones and desk chairs that were probably made on the other side of the world by underpaid workers. For all of these unknowns, we're going to purchase some carbon offsets to neutralize the impact of our move based on our best calculations. We haven't touched the carpet in our space, but if we do, we'll probably want to look at leasing a zero-waste carpet from a company like Interface.
So, help us out, what are we missing!?
The one big thing that I know we'll need to look into after we're settled in is our air travel, which, due to the nature of our clients being all over the globe, means that our carbon output from flights alone easily dwarfs the impact that our office move will make.
