A Speech for the Trees

A Note to Minions:

As an assistant at a law firm, I am a tree killer.  I make copies of memorandums with attachments fifty pages long to mail to the other side, have sit in a court file, have a copy made here as proof of what I sent to the court… did you get all that?  Trees.  Lots and Lots of trees have given their lives to be divorce forms alone.  That’s just one person in one office.  Now, extend all that paper use to all the people and all the offices. 

Part of being a good worker is to know how to be efficient.  Not all efficiency translates into more time.  Often it means, "How good you are at cutting down on waste?".  Take a look at the copies you need and the copies you don’t.  Take a look at when and where you can spend just a little more time on a task in order to eliminate the need for extra paper. 

Being respectful of the environment doesn’t have to mean you’re chaining yourself to trees in the Amazon.  It just means you’re being mindful of the resources you’re using so there’s more where that came from in the future. 

A Note to Supervisors:

Paper users tend to use euphemisms to justify their habits, such as being “Old School.”  Personally, I prefer to doodle on lined paper during meetings than to type up my notes on a tablet any day. 

A lot of people fear the term paper free office because it implies living on a different plane than you’re used to.  Remember – nobody “needed” the Internet, either!

Even if a paper free office sounds out of this world to you, take a look at the resources your office uses.  Inventory and ordering shouldn’t be beneath the radar of a good boss – if you’re noticing a great amount of money goes into ordering paper, what can be done to reduce it?  Probably a lot that does not interfere with your pen and paper preferences.