Essential Skill #25: Green Your Cube

It may not sign your paychecks, but the Earth will pay you back plenty if you treat every day as though it's take-your-green-to-work day. It's Essential Skill #25 in The Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook:

Green your cube.

Whether you spend 40 hours a week in one of countless cubicles in a huge corporate office, or you run your own small business with just a handful of employees, how you work for a living directly impacts how the planet will ultimately work for you.

"If one million people shut down their office PCs overnight," writes author David de Rothschild, "we would eliminate up to 45,000 tons of CO2 per year." And that's just one of many cube-greening tips.

In addition to shutting off your computer at the end of the day:

• Save important emails and PDFs in your online folders instead of printing them out
• Recycle all paper instead of throwing it in the trash
• Meet with your long-distance colleagues over a webcam instead of via a plane
• Ride a bicycle to work instead of driving your car
• If you work too far from your home to ride a bike every day, join a carpool or take public transportation
• Fill your office with plants that help take toxins out of the air (de Rothschild suggests spider plants and peace lilies to help remove carbon monoxide, and ficus and aloe vera to help remove the formaldehyde in adhesives and furniture)
• Stop using staples, which cannot be reused like paper clips
• On mild weather days, open the windows instead of running the heat or air conditioning
• Bring your own dishes and utensils to work instead of using the styrofoam, paper or plastic offerings in your break room or cafeteria
• Turn off lights when not in use -- in your cubicle, in the break room and in the bathroom (circulate a memo asking everyone to do the same, and post copies where appropriate)

Try these tips, and get creative with your own, and your eco-friendly work could become the most rewarding job you've ever known.