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Paper TigerTrimming CO2 pounds at home and in the office.

By Meaghan O'Neill and treehugger.com
Updated Monday, Dec. 11, 2006, at 3:06 PM ET

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We've talked about how you can defy your carbon cravings when it comes to big-ticket energy items like your heat, your electricity, the food you buy, and the appliances you use. What about that beloved pursuit of environmentalists everywhere, recycling, and other ways you can spruce up your home, yard, and office, carbon-wise?

The manufacturing of paper, one of the six most energy-intensive American industries, accounts for about 35 million tons of CO2 each year. And using virgin wood to make paper helps deforest the planet, a major factor in global CO2 counts. Consider that the average American office worker throws out about 150 pounds of office paper per year, and you may see the scope of your own CO2 problem in this area. Here are a bunch of ideas, recycling and otherwise, for trimming carbon pounds at work and at home:

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• Save paper—and CO2 emissions—by being selective about what you print out, making double-sided copies and using scrap paper to take notes or print drafts.

• Use high recycled-content paper.

• If an office building with 7,000 workers recycled all of its paper waste for a year, it could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 630 tons. Recycling used aluminum to make cans takes 95 percent less energy than making new aluminum from scratch. If your workplace doesn't recycle paper or cans, could you persuade it to start, or take your cans and scrap paper to the recycling bin at home?

• Look for office products and packaging made from recycled materials and that are biodegradable or can be composted. (Find green office products that meet these and other criteria here.)

• Unwanted junk mail wastes loads of precious paper. Click here and here to opt out.

• Invest in energy-saving fax machines, copiers, scanners, and printers, which use about half as much electricity as standard equipment and also default to a low-power sleep mode. Lobby your employer to do the same.

• Turn off your screen saver and let your computer sleep, or turn off the monitor completely. Moving-image screen savers consume as much electricity as a computer in active use. A blank screen saver is only slightly better.

• When it's time to go home, shut your computer down. Don't believe the myth that it's more efficient to leave it on than to reboot the next day. Bonus: You'll extend the life of your machine.

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Meaghan O'Neill is a freelance writer and founding editor of treehugger.com, an eco-Web site and Slate's partner on the Green Challenge.
Illustration by Robert Neubecker.
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