As many of you know, tomorrow is Earth Day. It stands as a reminder to everyone to conserve natural resources and generally think about how your choices might affect the earth. Now there is always a lot of news surrounding pollution and droughts, so I thought I’d take the chance to give a few tips you can do at work to help reduce your environmental impact.

• Print double sided: I know it sounds obvious but it does help a lot, it literally cuts your paper use in half. On top of that, think about whether you need to print. I know we’ve all been to meetings with way too many handouts.
• Turn off your electronics when you leave: It’s just like your mom taught you. Turn off the lights and any electronics, including your computer, when you leave. Even in sleep mode, these still use power so turning them off will save energy. It’s even easier if they’re all plugged into the same power strip so you can switch off when you leave.
• Use natural light: If you’re lucky enough to have windows near your desk, try to take advantage of natural light on bright days rather than your overhead lights. It saves a lot of energy and, besides,  I always feel better under natural light than I do under fluorescent lights.
• Bring your lunch in reusable containers: I do this every day, it reduces the amount of waste you throw away and it ends up being cheaper than throwing away tons of plastic zipper-top bags.

A lot of these tips are obvious but they are so minor that many people ignore them. I’ve tried to incorporate as many of them as I can into my work routine and, every little bit helps.