The year 2020: a year terrible not just for us human beings but also for the world’s forests, wildlife, and ecosystems. According to NOAA, we have lost approximately 85,45,166 acres of forests in 47,194 different wildfires in 2020 in the United States alone. We have seen fires in Uttarakhand, Siberia, and Syria in Asia; Ukraine in Europe; California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, Oregon, and Colorado in North America; Argentina and Brazil in South America; and two forest fires in Oceania. In India, approximately 617763.454 acres of land have been lost to Uttarakhand’s wildfires in the past one year. These woods are home to a range of organisms, big or small. We might see it as losing just the trees or the land; these innocent beings lose their shelter and protection. Along with the forests, we have lost a solid 68% of the wildlife population in 2020, as claimed by WWF. The wildfires are a tiny part of the real dent onto the environment by us humans. With one of the most severe damages to the environment in the last two decades, it becomes essential that we take all the measures possible to conserve and protect what is left of beautiful nature.
Ways In Which Technology Helps Your Company Become Environmentally Friendly?
Globalization and economic development, increased production and demand, emission and dumps, etc., have tarnished the relationship between growth and the environment quite a bit. In 2016, India alone emitted 1.8 metric tons of Carbon dioxide per capita. Many environmentalists believe that the rise of technology marked the downfall of the environment. However, in the modern-day, technology assists the industrialists in conserving the environment.
Technology is now an unignorable part of human lives. We are dependent on technology to complete the tiniest little task possible. Automation and innovation have taken over every aspect of the business. Why would it leave behind the environmental conservation aspect? In recent years, ecological conservation has been made easy with the help of technology. Here is how technology has paved the way for more eco-friendly business practices.
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Start Using Renewable Sources Of Energy
If your company uses a lot of fuel-powered machinery, you might want to rethink your fuel choice. Over 85% of the energy worldwide comes from Non-renewable sources, which are near depletion. Only 9% of the world’s power comes from hydropower and other renewable sources of energy.
Have you ever seen your factory or machinery? Did you notice dark smoke come out of your factory’s chimney or the exhaust of the machinery? That, my dear friend, is the pollution that your company is creating. In order to generate energy, fossil fuels need to be burned. The process of burning releases harmful greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. When mixed with the air and atmosphere, these gases (viz., carbon dioxide, sulfur, and nitrogen) cause acid rain. Acid rain affects soil fertility and the quality of potable water. It causes a chain reaction, the effects of which are far-reaching and long-lasting.
The use of renewable resources decreases the carbon footprint or carbon emission in the environment. They provide cleaner air by not emitting harmful gases in the air and preventing air pollution and diseases like bronchitis, pneumonia, and lung cancer resulting from polluted air. The most significant benefit of renewable resources is that they are in abundance and never cease to exist. There is free air, water, and sunlight available on this planet. Using them for generating power is far more reliable and green than the non-renewable sources of energy near exhaustion.
Modern technology can capture more sunlight, wind, or water and generate power more quickly. The solar panels, biogas plants, wind and water turbines, etc., are the modern apparatus that help with efficient and enough power generation through renewable sources.
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Get Environmental Audit
An environmental audit is an assessment performed to ensure that your business and organization comply with the environmental policies. It checks the amount of harm or damage that your organization may possess towards the environment and determines what type of pollution they are producing. A broad range of factors like your organization’s activities, the procedures they use, etc., determine these conclusions.
Environmental Audits are significant in sustainability. They keep the companies responsible by examining their operations and deciding the company’s measures to follow proper regulations.
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Go Paperless, Go Green
In 2016, the Vice Chairman and MD of JK Papers: Harsh Pati Singhania, told in a conference that “the paper industry has invested rupees 20,000 crores in the last five years, and it needs investments of rupees 90,000 crores to add new capacities by the year 2030.” 90,000 crores! On something so inexpensive as paper! Imagine investing those 90,000 crores in other industries of the economy! It could change the shape of the entire economy.
Moreover, these papers originate by processing the pulp of freshly cut trees. These trees are the habitat of a wide range of wildlife. Cutting down these trees means taking away their homes. Yet, the world uses approximately 300 million tons of paper each year.
In an era where technology is the servant of humanity, going paperless is a trouble-free and undemanding process. You can use applications and software to automate your process and reduce the need for paper. For example, letting a human resource management solution handle all the HR-related management and operations reduces the need to calculate the payroll manually on paper, record attendance in the books, or apply and approve the leave through letters. The software allows you and your employee to complete the processes described above on your computer or mobile screen, thus eliminating the need for using paper.
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Reduce Emissions With Remote Work
As the world is becoming one global village, the average commute time of an individual has only seen an upward climb. Researchers observed that during the pandemic, an individual saved up to 1 hour of commute DAILY. That makes about 200 hours a year for one individual. Imagine the amount of emission generated from the commute of just one person. Now multiply that by the workforce population of 402 million. Unbelievable, right?
You can contribute to the environment by reducing these emissions. “But how?” you might ask. By doing what we’ve been doing for the last few months. By allowing remote work. When your employees work from home, the commute time of 1.47 hours is saved. The emissions from that 1.47 hours of a commute are prevented. Remote working and working from home are different. Working from home, as the name suggests, is working from the comfort of your home. However, in remote work, the employee may work from home or a nearby cafe or shared workspace.
Thanks to technology, you do not have to worry about work from home productivity. The modern-day HR software allows you to have control over the remote employees. It enables you to know the employee’s whereabouts and keep track of the assignments, projects, or tasks that they complete. CoronaVirus proved that the myth about work could never be done from home is just a myth. Remote work is an option, a rather active and equally productive one. With technology, this temporary option can become the new normal for the benefit of the environment.
Think About It
The world has faced enough tragedies in this one year. Us depleting the environment and continuing our careless ways of trade is not what it needs right now. Making a change is just as much individual responsibility as it is a joint effort. Technology has the notorious impression of being the reason for the decline in the environment’s conditions, and technology is the answer to make planet Earth thrive again. With a little investment and effort, becoming environmentally friendly is as challenging as cutting butter with a hot knife. Any business aims to serve society to survive in the market; however, as Margaret Mead – the American cultural anthropologist – said, “We won’t have a society if we destroy the environment.”
Author bio:
Divyang Metaliya is a Business Consultant. Apart from managing and improving business processes, his hobby is to spread his vast area of knowledge to the people out there. He loves to create content that is innovative and engaging for the readers.
