We often cover the concept of ‘taking responsibility’ and ‘stepping up’ in our Line Management training.

Well today I want to get on my soap-box about a different kind of taking responsibility.

Everything we do leaves a mark on this world.

As I read today of drought conditions and hose pipe bans across the UK, with water levels lower than they have been for decades, and problems for wildlife, wetlands and crop production I’m asking myself what can one person or business do?

Many people in the media and across the world argue that ‘it’s only big businesses that can make a change’, ‘it’s the developing world that’s the problem’ (largely because we’ve hived off all our manufacturing but not altered our demand!) or that ‘Natural conditions impact the environment more than we do’.

That might be true about some things but as I watch the devastation of the rainforests or read about how the Great Pacific Garbage Patch impacts on wildlife and finds its way into the food chain so we are ingesting toxic chemicals, I think maybe we should be taking more responsibility for our impact on the world.

At Aspire Leadership we try to do our bit by:

• using the most energy efficient means of transport to deliver our business
• recycling as much material as possible
• using recycled materials where we can
• minimising our water use
• working in the cloud
• using electronic documents wherever possible
• turning off computers, lights and equipment when they’re not being used
• looking to use suppliers with a similar respect for the environment
• helping our customers to use our services in an environmentally-friendly way
• regularly reviewing our use of resources to see if we can do better

It’s not much but we’re trying.

So I have a couple of questions:

What can you do to help our stricken world?

What suggestions have you got for things that we can do to be even more environmentally friendly at Aspire Leadership?

All suggestions welcome!