Somebody Else's Problem?
You can't have failed to notice how environmental issues have progressively been taking a more prominent role in our daily lives. In both the work place and at home we are being encouraged to think more about our actions and the effects they might have on the environment. Phrases like "climate change" and "sustainable development" are cropping up more frequently but what do they mean to you?
We can all do our bit to promote sustainable development and help the environment. Making a better working environment for ourselves and others, as well as ensuring that our actions don't adversely affect the wider environment, is the responsibility of every single one of us.
Often as individuals we do not feel the effects of wasted resources. Someone else pays the cost: they pay for heating, they clear away the rubbish, they supply the paper and materials we use. But in reality, we all pay for the consequences of wasted resources. Our taxes clear up the mess and pay the energy bills, our health suffers from pollution, people in other parts of the world face the results of unsustainable use of resources. Environmental issues need to be an integral part of our work and should not be viewed as just something else to tag onto our workload.