The environment and the library

Published by Jennifer | Filed under Uncategorized

Today is, as I mentioned a few weeks ago, Blog Action Day – a day where the combined weight of the blogosphere is meant to be discussing all issues environmental.

Now, I know that environmental issues don’t usually feature at the forefront of the concerns of your average law library, though awareness is starting to trickle through, even in the hardest of legal environments. We have it pretty tough in law firms too, if nothing else, the sheer volume of paper that gets thrown away when looseleafing is a bit of a worry. But there are things we can do that can help make a difference, small though they might seem.

• Get on the corporate social responsibilty committee for your firm, if you can, and try and campaign for better recycling and paper-use policies. Even if they’re good at the moment, I bet they could be better. According to todays Telegraph, Brits throw out a paper mountain 8 miles high every year, mostly through printing emails that don’t need to be printed.
• Don’t print emails. Just don’t do it. There’s no need, it’s on screen already.
• Make sure you recycle everything you can. We get so much paper waste through the post – if it can be recycled, it should be.
• Encourage greater sharing of resources. Longer circulation lists can mean less copies. Or get electronic only subscriptions to journals, which means more access and less waiting for that person on the circ list who never seems to pass anything on.
• Fight for getting electronic versions of textbooks where you can. I know people don’t want to use them, and it’s hard, but they’re getting better all the time.
• Or, at the very least, try not to have to buy too many multiple copies of things. I know they all want a copy each, but surely they can share them, at least one copy to a room. It’s always so disappointing watching all those copies of handbooks of various kinds getting thrown out, year after year.
• Use a mug and a water bottle. I know this isn’t a particularly intuitive one, but lots of firms now have coffee machines that take paper cups, and water dispensers that use little plastic cups, and when you think about how many of those are used in a day, even if they are recycled after, it’s a bit staggering! And a mug is nicer anyway – it makes the tea taste better :)
• The small things all add up. Turn off your computer and your monitor at night. Turn off photocopiers. Turn off lights. It’ll all make a difference.

Are there any initiatives at any of your firms, or anything else you do to do your bit for the environment at work?