Hi there, and welcome to Make it Green Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for an Earth Friendly Life. Many of us work in an office environment, and if you're anything like me, you're itching to reduce the impact of running your office on the Earth. Today, we'll explore the tip of the iceberg--a couple of simple ways you can start turning your office from corporate prison into eco-paradise.

Speaking of corporate prison, are there days when you'd rather save the gas and telecommute? But everything you really need is on your office computer! Now, there's a quick and easy way for you to access your office machine from any computer with an internet connection. Use Go To My PC, and you don't have to be an IT whiz, either. It's that simple. For your free 30-day trial of Go To My PC, check out www.gotomypc.com/podcasts today. That's www.gotomypc.com/podcasts.

Office buildings are a big source of waste in our society, from electricity to paper. Let's explore room by room what you can do in your office, today.

The Supply Room

Your supply room probably has a plethora of opportunities for savings, both monetary and environmental.

Printers and copiers are notorious power hogs, so your office should have the smallest machine it can get by with. Most of these machines also come with a low power mode, and power down automatically if no one's using them. Ask your IT people before fiddling with network printers, but if you have a printer in your office, shut it down at night and on the weekends.

Also, find out if your office supplier or printer manufacturer has a reuseable ink cartridge system, or a toner recycling program. Many printer manufacturers send a postage paid envelope with new toner and ink cartridges for easy recycling.

Paper is the number one waste product in office environments. There are three key ways to reduce paper waste, the 3 "r's:" reduce, reuse, and recycle.

First, reduce the amount of paper you use by printing double sided. Remember that paperless society dream we all had after the silicon valley boom? Submit and transfer documents electronically as much as you can.

Second, reuse paper by taking futzed up print jobs and turning them into your scratch paper.

Third, recycle waste paper and mistake-riddled or old documents--ask your paper shredded if they have recycling programs. Buying recycled paper for your office, especially post-consumer recycled paper will help you close the loop. The more offices buying recycled paper, the cheaper and more available it'll become.

Finally, keep your supply room organized so people can find supplies easily instead of going out and buying new supplies. Everyone likes to have new supplies, but if your storage is organized, supplies are kept clean and nice longer. I've gotten tired of my office supplies before, but instead of chucking them, I like to put them back into the bins from whence they came, hoping someone else in the office will want them.

The Break Room

I find myself going crazy in the break room. Not only am I a crazy hippie, but my parents also told me not to waste if I can help it. So seeing heaps of paper plates, a wasteland of styrofoam cups, and countless plastic utensils and coffee stirrers in the garbage really gets my goat. [goaty noise]

There are two solutions to this mess. One is the route my office has taken, with lots of leading by example. Annoying your co-workers is definitely not the way to instigate change. We decided to provide ceramic plates, mugs, and a myriad of metal utensils.

This works for my office, because we have a sink, and drying rack, and microwaves. This is obviously the best way to save yourself from pounds of trash everyday, since nothing is being thrown away, except perhaps the soup you forgot and left to rot in the back of the fridge.

If your office does'nt have such luxurious amenities as mine (ooh, a sink), there's still a glimmer of hope. Either you can either start bringing in dishes from home and take them back dirty, or you can try to get your office to buy more renewable, sustainable products like post-consumer recycle napkins and biodegradable plastic utensils.

A note on bringing your own container--I try not to microwave my plastic Tupperware-ish(R) containers. Not only does this often ruin the container, but also I have some suspicions about what comes out of plastics when you microwave them. There is very little study on the subject of nasty chemicals leaching from your plastic containers, bags, and wraps. However, I like to be safe rather than sorry. Plus my containers last twice as long. But more on this subject in the future. Moving right along...

Your Desk

... we come to your office. This one is easy.

Turn off the lights when you leave for lunch, and for the night slash weekend. If you can convince the management, get automatic sensors installed that turn the lights off, even when you forget. Or, best of all, try your 30-day trial of Go To My PC to avoid turning on the lights in your office at all!

Next, shut down your computer when you leave for the night and the weekends. If you can, unplug the power strip entirely to completely interrupt the flow of power your computer might be gobbling while you're not there. Also, set your monitor to shut down on the shortest time frame you can stand. Mine is set at five minutes--not only to save power, but to let me know if I've zoned out for more than five minutes.

Last, get yourself a plant. She'll help clean up the air in your office, removing CO2 and adding pure oxygen back into the air. Offices are often very stagnant, so using plants to freshen up the air is a great idea. They also help relieve stress, because that lovely dark green is easy on the eyes.

Thanks again for tuning in to Make it Green Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for and Earth Friendly Life. You can find a transcript of this show at quickanddirtytips.com, plus links to all the other great Quick and Dirty Tips shows to strengthen your office life, like Small Biz Tech Girl, Get-it-Done Guy, and the Sales Guy. Our first book by a Quick and Dirty Tips podcaster, Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, by Mignon Fogarty, will be available for purchase on July 8. Reserve a copy today, or preorder it from your favorite online retailer. Wouldn't want to be stuck on another commute without a good audio book!

Send me your questions and comments to greengirl@quickanddirtytips.com, or leave me a voicemail at 206-600-3051. Thanks to all of you who've already taken the time to write in!