In case of emergency
Our team finished ClimateSmart training session last week, which is great, but not because it’s over. In three sessions we learned a lot – impacts of green house gases (GHGs), ways to reduce them inhouse as well as ways we could guide our clients interests in GHG reduction and, most recently, a thorough examamination of carbon offsets.
As part of the program, each participant creates a GHG “inventory”, a snapshot of a business’s contribution to GHGs.
Doing our Climate Smart GHG inventory showed us one of our largest emission sources is employee’s commuting to work. We all live relatively close to the office; however, because of family and life commitments many of us feel we need our vehicles daily.
In our last session, we did an exercise on ways we can get our company on board for reducing carbon outputs. An example was shared of an organization that provided an emergency vehicle for employee’s to use if they had to leave work suddenly and, at the same time, they were encouraged to use public transit, cycle and walk to work rather than take their own vehicle. This way, they would have the comfort of knowing instant transportation was there, in case of emergency.
While our company isn’t able to provide an emergency vehicle for employee’s to use this sparked an idea. We’re investigating a plan where one person drives each week and the other team members take public transit, walk or ride their bikes to work. The person who is on driving duty that week or day would agree to let their vehicle become the “emergency vehicle” for the day.
By knowing they have access to a vehicle in case anything comes up with children or personal life, our team will use more sustainable modes of transportation to get to work.
How does your workplace encourage employees to use sustainable modes of transportation?
Run towards clean air
I consider myself a recreational runner. I lace up my shoes and hit the roads three to four times a week for anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes. I never once thought about the air quality until I started working closely with some of our company’s air and health clients. That knowledge instilled a new level of awareness in me when it came to outdoor running and how the air might be affecting my health.
Poor air quality and its impact on athletes is a hot topic in the media with the 2012 Olympics looming and the controversy over London’s air quality.
A topic not addressed as much is what poor air quality means for the recreational athletes – the ones who lace up their sneakers for a run or bike ride four times a week to get some cardiovascular exercise in. Even if their work out is only 30 – 60 minutes a day it has the potential to be detrimental when it comes to long-term health if the air quality is bad.
We breathe more deeply and rapidly than normal when exercising and this allows more air pollution to enter the lungs. Air pollution tends to be higher in the afternoon when there is more traffic and the mixture of heat and air begins to worsen air quality. Therefore, when possible, runners should try to work out in the morning.
But what about those who cannot? Is it better to run through poor air quality than not run at all?
According to this report by the Sport Information Resource Centre (SIRC), if the air quality is poor runners are better to reduce the amount of time they work out, take the day off or consider taking their workout inside.
Bottom line is it’s important for recreational athletes to be aware of the air quality in their community by getting in the habit of checking it the way they would check the weather before lacing up for a run.
Their lungs – and health – will thank them.
Do you regularly check the air quality in your community before exercising outdoors?
Where Will Santa Live – Brilliant campaign by the David Suzuki Foundation
As a marketing and communication firm focused on health and environment initiatives, we know how hard it can sometimes be to get people to stop, understand and act in ways that benefit personal health and the health of the planet. This is especially true during the holidays when we may have our minds on other things like shopping lists, meal planning and events.
Despite distractions, the David Suzuki Foundation’s recent ‘Where will Santa Live’ campaign has cleverly inserted itself into the merriment. It’s asking Canadians to make charitable donations by purchasing symbolic gifts such as reindeer water wings, elf-sized hockey sticks or a dri-fit Santa suit. Donations go toward developing a clean, renewable energy plan for Canada.
What unique marketing programs addressing health and the environment during the holiday season have you noticed or admired?
Our Company’s Sustainability Headline
We work with a number of clients across the country with health and environment goals, but know it’s as important to spend time focusing the lens on our own organization’s contributions to sustainability. One action we’ve taken recently as a company in that regard is identifying, measuring and reducing our carbon footprint through the Climate Smart program.
This week we attended the second of three training sessions focused on reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. We started the session off with a fun, brainstorming exercise. We were asked to create a news headline that encompassed our company’s big goal or vision for the future; something to shoot for five, 10, or even 20 years out. Vancouver’s vision to be the greenest city in the world by 2020 was one example.
We came up with two headlines that encompassed some of our organization’s sustainability goals. Our first headline – Marketing Company Brings Rooftop Produce to Market – focuses on a vision we’ve had for rooftop herb gardening and composting.
The second headline – Communication Solutions Finds its Place in the Sun – is a play on words regarding our “Place in the Sun” video for the City of Kamloops. It refers to a much larger and long term vision where our company would be based out of a solar-powered office space.
This exercise was just what we needed to get the ball rolling for the remainder of the session where we brainstormed ways all participants in the session could reduce GHG emissions. Who knows, one day in the future updates on this blog may be coming to you from a solar-powered office. And the timing for our brainstorming couldn’t be better. We also just learned our local city council just voted to make it mandatory for all new homes to have solar hot water “readiness”, joining 36 other BC municipalities who have made similar commitments.
What is your company’s sustainability vision? What would your “headline” be?
How can we help people care about air?
It’s a challenge common to many parts of Canada and countries in both the developed and developing world… how to make people more aware of air quality and its effects on their health. In Canada, we’ve worked to do this in conjunction with the introduction of the world’s first Air Quality Health Index (AQHI). Read our case study here.
How do we maximize a “teachable moment”?
By giving people information when they need it most. The 2009 forest fires in BC’s Okanagan region posed a health threat to people most at risk from air pollution – and created a “teachable moment” to inform them about the relationship between air quality and health. In response, Communication Solutions created a social media strategy focused on using Twitter to inform British Columbians and influence their actions – when they needed it most. Read full case study here.