Jim says – Anyone who is serious about saving trees and helping the environment should do the following:
1. Destroy your fax machines. Faxing kills 17 million trees each year. Use scanners instead. You can scan a document into a pdf file and email it to its destination. It is also a more secure means of communication as nearly everyone gets to look at a fax before it is distributed.
2. Use the scanner instead of the photocopier. Scanned documents can also be filed electronically, reducing the need for file cabinets and office real estate. Electronic storage is also more secure and can be backed up. Once paper files are destroyed by fire and flood, they are gone forever.
3. Use email or file sharing techniques instead of the old snail mail. Sending documents via Fedex has to be a total waste. Delivery trucks clutter the roads and give off toxic emissions. Think of that next time you are stuck in traffic.
4. Speaking of traffic, use telecommuting whenever possible to keep people off the road. Four day workweeks can also do the trick.
5. Have web conferences instead of making people fly all over the world and spend their time waiting to get strip searched at airports.