Ecofriendly Life: Beginning Baseline Measurements

The sound of crumpled up plastic brushing against the sides of the dumpster muffled out the singing birds today.  I killed the beautiful music of nature today with my weekly routine of taking out the trash.  I am living the all too familiar life of a college student too busy to care about how their choices affect the world.  It seems as if this business keeps us all trapped inside a little perfect bubble never really seeing the damaging implications of our wasteful consumerism.  As the dumpster lid slammed shut with a bang and nature returned back to normal - I vowed to myself that I will do what I can to stop disrupting its natural flow with my decisions.

Many of us have been there, living a life that we knew wasn't "green" and yet didn't really know where to start to get better.  Recycle? Take shorter showers? Replace the lightbulbs?  These are all great ideas but they all miss out on the cornerstone of the effort which is to make a difference.

How are we supposed to know how much of a difference we have made by being more environmentally friendly if we never knew how bad we were for mother earth to begin with?  This is why I decided to take my carbon footprint.

Online, there are a myriad of sites dedicated to helping you calculate your carbon foot print. I personally used the following to obtain my results:

• nature.org
• carbonfootprint.com
• footprint.wwf.org.uk
• carbonfootprint.c2es.org
• 3.epa.gov/carbon-footprint-calculator/
• footprintnetwork.org

Overall, my results revealed to me exactly what I thought - I am starting off quite wasteful.  For me this is a challenge, to go from needing 3.5 Earths to maintain my lifestyle to needing less than 1.  I did notice, however, that there are discrepancies in the different tests, so from now on I will be using these 6 to track my progress as they all measure slightly different green practices.

The main thing I want to highlight about taking this baseline test is that no matter the number you should not be ashamed to publish it.  Many companies these days refuse to post their environment friendliness rating because they feel that it would be bad press.  I would like to argue the contrary - it's good press because even though you might not have the most sustainable numbers you are realizing that and are openly making a change.  This public change might even inspire others to take on the same goal of becoming more sustainable and thus as a team make the world a better place. 

Please share your numbers, I hope you enjoy seeing where you fall within the carbon footprint spectrum.  Even if you have a very high number, don't worry  - everyone needs to start somewhere.

Making CSR Personal

First, lets start off with the question what is CSR? 

Heading Down the Right Path - Responsibility

Its a word passed around in business these days that sometimes gets confused with philanthropy or sustainability.  Although these are elements of CSR, one section of the program does not define it as a whole.  CSR is the overall process ensuring that your business is running ethically and responsibly - not just focusing on one side of the coin (environment, HR practices, philanthropy).  If the general idea of CSR is mainly about responsibility, why do we leave it in the office after the day of work is done?  We pack up the papers, put it in the drawer, and as soon as we walk out it is as if all of the responsibility we try to give to our business flies out the window of our huge SUV as we start revving the engine on our way out from the parking lot.  If we are putting so much effort into our businesses CSR plan, and we understand its importance - what is stopping us from personally living responsibly?  Shouldn't we make it our personal mission to also be living ethically within our own personal brand we all call "ME".

I know that we as people are much smaller than a corporation, but we are the ones that can make the biggest change.  If you ask yourself why your company started using CSR practices its not because it makes more profits, but because that is what your customers demand.  If we go out living our personal lives using the same methodology as CSR we would have even more influence on the economy and the businesses around us - spurring more change than already is happening. One man is just as important as the many because one man can inspire the masses - and hopefully this time it is to do the right thing.

Most people consider themselves to be contributing members of society, but is there a more effective way to inspiring change? To become a more responsible citizen I suggest taking your drive to do the right thing and apply the CSR methods of tracking, goal setting, and achieving so as to create a new hybrid "personal social responsibility".  This way people themselves are able to track themselves doing the right thing and improving over time - just as any business would, allowing measurable results and efficiency in the process.

Although I try to do my best to help make a positive impact, I feel that by haphazardly doing it I am actually taking away from what I could truly achieve. That is why I am beginning the personal CSR journey today by starting with my baseline.  I will track my data for all of next week containing my sustainability info, social responsibility, and overall impact and then post a report. Then I will start making goals and striving to achieve even more than before.  I hope if you found this interesting you can join me on my personal CSR journey.

CSR doesn't just have to be for businesses - its a way of life.

Don't "Pay It Forward" Instead "Give a Note"

It seems nice, the idea of "paying it forward" - but the real question is what does it mean and is it effective?  This past month my social media has been buzzing with this idea of paying it forward.

In effect this is when someone does something nice for you, and then you move on and do something nice for someone else.  Typically this involves simple chores, money, or noticing someone that needs help.  I completely support this idea of helping one another - but what happens when the chain breaks?  You are obliged only to pay it forward to only one person, right?

Due to this flaw in the idea, I want to suggest something even more simple. A note.  Following, I will detail how you personally can make a huge impact in the life of another and inspire more action than the "pay it forward" movement with just a pen and paper.

The idea behind the note is that anyone is capable of participating - money is not necessary for this responsible action.  Also, it is much better than giving a positive compliment because the recipient can always keep the note to look back on rather than forgetting your words.  The idea is all about helping society - thus it should be able to be applied to everyone.  When it comes down to it, what most everyone wants is to be recognized for what they do, due to this simple human desire I can make a small initiative extremely powerful.  So, take out your pens, find someone that deserves recognition, and deliver the note to them with a smile.  Both of you will feel wonderful afterwards - even if you are strangers.

For my example, I want to talk about the note I gave to the bus driver last year.

I took this bus every day, and each day there were different drivers, some drove more often than others.  I was used to this trip so much that I never even realized how helpful the drivers were until one day I was caught off guard by how friendly one specific driver was.  Each time I entered the bus he gave a nice smile, and a warm welcome.  After a while my friends and I started calling him Super Bus Driver because every time he was driving the bus had an unusually positive atmosphere.  It was at this time I realized I needed to tell this driver how much he impacted my journeys and how he brightened my day - I wanted  him to feel recognized and good for what he does.

My Beautiful Swiss Village Next to the Bus Stop

For me it was necessary to write a note as the driver only spoke French, and my French was incomprehensible at best.  I sat down with a friend who helped me translate my message and with my best writing I scrawled out "Thank you Super Bus Driver - you make my day every time we travel! Keep up the good work".

When I handed the driver the note the very next day he took it, looked a bit confused and then walked away.  The following evening when I got on the bus home, his smile was bigger than ever.  He had read and understood my note.  We both were feeling amazing and this positivity radiated to the other customers as well.  We all got off the bus feeling better than ever.  He was happy for being recognized, and I felt good to express my gratitude, and I'm sure the rest of the customers had no idea why they were happy but they cheerfully walked home as well.

Although this is the end of my story with the bus driver, I hope to find someone else to send a nice message to in the future.  Who knows who it may be;  that is why I always carry a pen and a note. I want to be prepared to recognize someone for their great job.

I hope that all of you can have similar stories where you don't need to go and "pay it forward" with money or services but simply make someone realize their positive impact on your life.  Living in harmony with society is a very important factor when it comes to responsibility.  Understanding the nature of human wants and needs makes you realize how we are just simple creatures. How wonderful could it be if we could all just recognize each others positive qualities?

Lets start the "giving a note" initiative and make people feel wonderful, accepted, and most of all appreciated!

One Man...

How would you define humanity if all it contained was one man?  What would this one man's power become?

Be conscientious of our precious world - and make a difference!

The reality is that one man alone cannot do much for the world - but luckily for us in 2015 there are 7 billion people on this earth that can be inspired by just one man to make a change.  This is what I want you as a reader to realize - that with your solitary action to make a change that you will inspire others to make a difference.  It might be a slow process, maybe only one person joins for years but in the end if you have just one follower that means already you have the power of 2 just by one action and support.

This blog is meant for those of us who are wishing to make a difference by creating personal social responsibility plans. Our solitary actions can influence others to make the same sort of change.  It doesn't even need to be radical, just a small change such as reducing food waste.  Each step we take the world is thanking us.

I know it is hard in the modern day to be conscientiousness of the world, its people, and the way we work together ... but if there is one thing that is important for the future of man its that we need to learn to be more conscientious of these types of decisions we make.  In this blog we will start small and move forward as we learn more together.

This will be the catalyst for our change in responsible behaviors.  I look forward to writing more posts on this subject and feel free to message me if you have any articles you would like to see.

Wishing everyone the best in our new socially responsible endeavor,
Rachel