Set sprinklers to water the lawn or garden only - not the street or sidewalk.
Use the microwave to cook small meals. (It uses less power than an oven.)
Purchase "Green Power" for your home's electricity. (Contact your power supplier to see where and if it is available.)
Scrape, rather than rinse, dishes before loading into the dishwasher; wash only full loads.
Cut back on air conditioning and heating use if you can.
Turn off appliances and lights when you leave the room.
- Working from home lowers gas consumption, which preserves natural resources, reduces polluting emissions such as carbon dioxide and hydrocarbons, and lessens polluting road 'run off.' (And think of the money and stress that's saved!)
- Cool the globe! Less commuter-related car emissions can help reduce global warming. Carbon dioxide is the major contributor of global warming.
- See more clearly: Nitrogen oxides produced by excessive car emissions combine with volatile organic compounds and sunlight to produce ground-level ozone (otherwise known as smog).
- Help preserve our food sources - ozone and nitrous oxides contribute to an estimated annual crop yield loss of two to four billion dollars.
- Less commuting can equal more green, open spaces. Fewer cars could reduce the demand for new or wider roads, which use up land and natural resources.
- Enjoy the silence. Less traffic means less noise pollution.
- Become an 'e-commuter.' Working from home encourages use of electronic communications like email, intranet sites, and phone - significantly reducing paper use and waste.
- Live on a mountain top! If you telecommute full-time, your home base is almost irrelevant - you can live where you decide your quality of life will be highest…and in the long run, this may also help reduce urban sprawl.
- Write or research for a living? You're an ideal telecommuter candidate! Talk to your employer about a flexible schedule that will allow part- or full-time telecommuting.
- To get more information about setting up a telecommuting program at your workplace, contact the International Telework Association & Council (ITAC): http://www.telecommute.org/, or call 202.547.6157.
