Not a day goes by when we don’t wake up to a headline that involves the environment or the doom and gloom of the inevitable impact that climate change will have on us all.
Global warming, greenhouse gases, recycling, climate change, carbon emissions, environmental legislation, sustainability are but a few of the phrases that we have all become familiar with in recent months.
It is almost at the point of hysteria that we all accept that we are fast depleting the earth’s resources and the end of the world is nigh. Whether we like it or not it will not be long before rooftops are littered with wind turbines and solar panels and light bulbs are too dim to read by.
Is anyone looking at the hard practical facts? Do the politicians have any idea what they are in fact talking about as they rush to compete with each other in the great global rush to save the planet? Unfortunately, recent debates expose much of the science upon which the green politicians base their campaign is unproven.
We are all aware that if China, currently undergoing its great industrial revolution, continues to build power stations at its present rate of five a week, within just a few years it will be omitting more greenhouse gas than has ever been produced in the history of the human race.
However doing nothing is not an option. Climate Change is without doubt the most serious threat facing mankind today and compelling evidence that our climate is changing is widely accepted and human activities are without a doubt contributing to global warming.
What do we mean by ‘Climate Change’? Blamed for everything from the lack of snow at Christmas to the ravages of hurricanes, climate change is the effect of the shifts in climate and their impact on the earth. In recent years, models of the impacts of climate change predict widespread changes to weather patterns as well as increased temperatures, which will impact on us all.
It matters not if you believe that man is inducing climate change or not because Britain is to become the first in the world to introduce legally binding targets for reducing carbon emissions. They must fall by between 26% and 32% by 2020 and 60% by 2050 with a new average car emission target of 130G of CO2 per kilometre by 2012 and electricity to come ‘largely or wholly’ from low or zero carbon sources including wind, solar wave and nuclear.
Measures have already been introduced to limit greenhouse gas emissions produced through the use of energy in business. These include increased fuel, energy and carbon taxes already in place in the UK so it makes sense to reduce usage through improving efficiency.
The cost to businesses of not responding to climate change is potentially significant. However by acting now and forward planning, cost in both financial terms and time can be reduced significantly.
There has never been a better time to take advantage of Grants, Enhanced Capital Allowance schemes along with free advice from the numerous organisations springing up in this whole new ‘Green Industry’.
Where to start I hear you ask? Our business philosophy has always been to do one thing every day that makes a difference – that adds up to a lot of things and ultimately helps drive continuous improvement within our business along with listening to what our customers want and believe me the customer wants green.
Stop making excuses, engage your staff and customers and do one thing today even if it’s just segregating your rubbish to recycle, setting your printers to double sided or switching of those lights that you don’t really need and save money at the same time!
Futures Supplies has always been environmentally aware, personally I have always felt a responsibility to the planet and future generations. The company has had an environmental policy and an informal Environmental Management System in place since 2004. This was recently formalised with the help of the Defra funded scheme run through the Cleaning & Support Services Association (CSSA). We have subsequently been able to simply address the formal documentation of an EMS and put in place targets that are meaningful, measurable and achievable, further improving our environmental performance and impact on the environment.
The flexibility of the Acorn approach has enabled us to work at our own pace and substantially improve our competitiveness in the market place and I would highly recommend this no nonsense common sense approach.
There is never a better time to start than today, here we go I hear you sigh something else to do along with the HR, Health and Safety and the rest of the legislation and red tape in which we all as businesses struggle to keep on top of but ask yourself – don’t we all have a responsibility to safeguard our planets resources for our children our children’s children and future generations? Lets face it doing nothing is not an option.
