Even though we’re a small team of 5 people, we think that everyone can make a difference when it comes to the environment. As responsible office space Victoria BC owners and operators, we know that it’s possible to do business with a smaller impact on the environment.
There are many strategies to become a greener business: start composting and recycling, build carpool programs or encourage the use of public transit or biking for employees in your business.
Here’s the story of our green challenge. We hope that you will start one in your business and share your story with us!
It started as a fitness challenge…
We thought that our team would be healthier and happier at work if they included some exercise in their routine. We encouraged each other to bike to work more often (at least once or twice a week) and to take walks at lunchtime.
…And then we realized that keeping fit by biking to work was also helping the environment by reducing the need for cars. Actually, we’ve reduced our use of cars by 10%, from 50 total car trips a week to 45 on average. Some of us carpool, one of us bikes to and from work every day, and others use a mix of biking and carpooling.
The Hansbraun team feels good about doing its part for the environment. Even though we haven’t gotten rid of cars completely, we are always trying to reduce our dependence on them by being more efficient commuters.
The benefits to our business, we realized, are not only environmental: we all save money on ever-increasing gas prices and we build a stronger, more close-knit team by sharing transit time regularly.
What if everyone reduced their use of cars by 10%?
If every business could reduce its use of cars by 10%, there would be a major positive impact on our greenhouse gas emissions in the CRD.
There are close to 1,000,000 car commute trips in the Greater Victoria region every day. Imagine if we reduced this total amount by 10%? This means 100,000 fewer car trips every day.
100,000 fewer cars on the road every day means 519,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas not sent in the atmosphere every year, not counting other toxic emissions from an average car. 10% seems like a small number, but as you can see, it can make a big difference!
As we move on with more ambitious green strategies, not only for ourselves but also for our properties, we challenge all businesses and organizations in Victoria to develop their own green commuting strategy. We’d love to hear from you and learn from your experience in building a greener business!