Welcome to part eight of our blog series on Going Green, dedicated to helping attorneys practice law in a more environmentally friendly way.  Last week we discussed the positive effects that recycling can have on your business and on the environment.  This week we will focus on setting goals.

We can talk about tips and tricks to go green all day long.  But at the end of the day, if you don’t set any concrete goals, you’ll never get anything done.  It’s just like anything else, talking does nothing without a real way to measure the outcome.  So let’s start setting some goals around your home or office that you can measure.

You can begin by taking a look at your utility bills.  The month before you start to institute any new green policy, look at how much gas, electricity, water, etc. that you consume.  If one thing you are trying to change is your electricity consumption, measure it in the money that you save from month to month.  Set a goal to lower your monthly electric bill by 10%.  That way you can go back and measure how effective your new policies really were.

Next, take a look at some other items that your practice “consumes”.  Reimburse employees for gas or transit, but cap it at a certain level so you can see how many people use less.  Reimburse employees only for public transportation and see how many switch from driving to taking the train or bus.

Also, if you follow our advice and try to use less paper, set a limit on the number of boxes of paper you purchase a month.  Or measure the frequency which you have to change the ink cartridges in the printers to see if you can go longer periods of time in between each change.

All of these are ways that you can measure the effectiveness of green initiatives.  And with measurement, come rewards and/or punishments.  Give people a reason to reach these goals, either financial or otherwise.  Over the long run, these new policies will have a better chance of sticking and you will be doing more to help the environment.

Past Installments in this Series
Part One – An Introduction to Going Green
Part Two – Cut Electricity Costs, Just Flip the Switch
Part Three – Forget Paper, Go Digital
Part Four – Travel Together, Travel Less
Part Five – We Recycle
Part Six – Natural Lighting
Part Seven – Know Your Gadgets