Fifty-one years ago, an environmental movement that has reached billions of people worldwide emerged. Earth Day, celebrated every year on April 22nd, was established to pay tribute to our planet and recognize the Earth as our home. Namely, its sole purpose is to create awareness of problems such as pollution and other environmental concerns. In this blog post, we’ll discuss Earth Day: how virtual assistants help reduce the carbon footprint and why we need to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle.
What is the Carbon Footprint?
A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases produced directly or indirectly by human activity.
As you may already know, when sunlight reaches the Earth, some of this energy goes back into space. Just some of this energy goes back because greenhouse gases in our atmosphere block heat from escaping. This phenomenon helps regulate temperature to sustain life on Earth. However, human activities have changed the natural greenhouse by increasing the concentration of these gases. Some of these activities include:
- Electricity and Heat Production
- Industry
- Agriculture, Forestry, and other land use
- Transportation
The increase in these activities can be blamed for global warming and climate change.
“Climate change can cause new patterns of pests and diseases to emerge, affecting plants, animals, and humans; and posing new risks for food security, food safety, and human health.” -NASA.
How do Virtual Assistants help reduce the carbon footprint?
A remote career offers a work-life balance, more freedom, and reduces overhead labor costs. Furthermore, it can also help you reduce your carbon footprint. According to an estimation by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), the United States used approximately 142.71 billion gallons of gasoline in 2019. Therefore, statistically, if people worked remotely for half of the workweek, it would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 54 million tons every year. For example, in 2015, Xerox’s teleworkers saved around 17 million liters of gas and, consequently, reduced 41,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
The following are some examples of how you can affect the globe positively by working from home:
– Reduce environmental impacts associated with transportation
As a virtual assistant, you don’t have to commute to work or take business trips. Instead, you work from your home and use your computer and virtual tools such as video conferences, phones, emails, and texts to stay in touch with your team and customers. In consequence, you are reducing vehicle emissions that harm the environment.
– Decrease waste
Things like brewing coffee, cooking your lunch, and drinking water at home help reduce plastic lids, containers, and bottles. Also, since you handle most things digitally, there’s no need to print. In other words, by going virtual, you significantly reduce your paper and plastic usage.
– Reduce global energy and resource consumption
Virtual assistants use their own home office and equipment. A study by Amanda R. Carrico and Manuel Ramier proved that people who work from home are motivated to reduce energy usage. The reason for this is simple; turning the lights and computers off when not in use saves money.
Climate Change is real. We can all contribute a little every day, saving energy, saving water, modifying our transit, and rethinking our consumption. GET IDEAS HERE. We must work together to safeguard all living organisms on our planet. Let’s take action and transform the world that surrounds us.
Finally, we hope that this blog entry, “Earth Day: How Virtual Assistants Help Reduce the Carbon Footprint” inspires you to help save our planet. Also, the following video could help you reflect:
