Earth Day - Envisioning Green at FCG
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
What better day than Earth Day to announce our commitment to become a more environmentally responsible, sustainable design studio. April 22, 2008 officially ushers in Fleming’s new green era.
Our decision to become more sustainable wasn’t one we undertook lightly - or quickly. We didn’t want to ride the “green wave” trend with piecemeal efforts that would fizzle after a few months. We wanted a plan we could stick to, a real strategy that would lead to long-term, sustainable change, and a corporate philosophy to back it up. So, last fall, we assembled our own “Green Team” tasked with doing exactly that.
The Green Team jumped right in with an eco-audit of our practices in three main areas: our studio, our design work, and our community. Everything was put under the microscope - from our paper consumption and energy use to our recycling program, commuting methods, building health, design process, and internal policies. The team counted, measured, analyzed, and tallied it all up to give us an overall picture of just how green (or not) we were.
The results? Well, in a nutshell: lots of room for improvement. The Green Team came up with an extensive list of recommendations and initiatives that Fleming can implement to put our firm on a path towards a greener future. Some of the recommendations are simple (two-sided printing), some a little more involved (lighting and heating upgrades), and some will take considerable thought and research (measuring our carbon footprint and charting a path to reduce it).
Knowing that change must begin at home, we began by focusing our efforts on changes in the studio. In just a few short months, we’re proud to say we’ve already crossed a number of initiatives off the list. (Hey, we wanted to get a few things in before the launch!) We’ve overhauled and expanded our internal recycling program, stocked up on new cutlery and dishes to avoid using paper and plastic, insulated our hot water tank, and asked our cleaners to use green products exclusively. We consider these just the very first steps on the long green road ahead of us. In the next year, we hope to move our green initiatives out of the studio and into the boardroom, by helping our clients consider environmental issues that surround their brand, and smooth the transition to a sustainable future.
For Fleming, the move to sustainability is an ongoing process. It’s not about a quick fix or a snappy slogan, but taking steps - each one building on the next, to create a green strategy that touches all aspects of our business. As we continue down this path, we’ll provide updates on our progress in the hope that others can learn from our successes and challenges. For today though, we’ll leave you with a few questions excerpted from our internal “FCG Earth Day Quiz”. Do you know the answers? (See answers below.)
1. The amount of waste in landfills that could be recycled is about:
a) 20%
b) 40%
c) 50%
d) 70%
2. How much water is used to produce 1 kg of paper?
a) 100 litres
b) 200 litres
c) 300 litres
d) 400 litres
3. Recycling 1,000 kilograms of aluminum saves enough energy to heat a typical home for how many years:
a) 2 years
b) 5 years
c) 10 years
d) 15 years
Answers: 1 d); 2 c); 3c).