Prof. Legal Mgt. Week Mag., 2008 at 62, proffers a number of ideas that all law departments could adopt to help the environment. The article urges every office to find out what they call its “carbon footprint.” A carbon footprint measures how much carbon dioxide some group produces in a year, so that you can figure out how much to conserve. Awareness is a first step to persuade someone to act more soundly.
Other ideas include replacing plastic cups with mugs and printing or copying on both sides of paper. You can put printers, fax machines and scanners on a 45-minute power save and use energy efficient light bulbs. Recycling containers should be next to printers. Motion detectors that turn off lights are another step any law department can take. The article also advocates recycled paper for all copying and reusable water bottles that can be refilled (See my post of April 23, 2008: environmental impact of filing cabinets; April 27, 2008: six steps to help the environment; Dec. 26, 2007: lights and energy-saving; and April 27, 2007: environmental sensibilities of recycling.).