Any forward-thinking business wants to be at the forefront of printing developments, especially if they encompass “green measures”. Given the increased environmental awareness of both customers and businesses, more and more companies are choosing to incorporate eco-printing to their everyday operations to protect the environment and add an ethical string to their reputational bow.

If you think of the amount of wastage your business creates on a day-to-day basis, the benefits of eco-printing become abundantly clear. Despite what some common misconceptions would suggest, switching to eco-printing doesn’t have to restrict your marketing and design options.

If you want attractive, green promotional tools – such as business cards, leaflets and posters, and stationery items, you can. There is now a wide range of impressive designs out there that prove that you can combine both looks and innovative thinking, such as those available from Flyerzone.

Incorporating eco-printing could produce a multitude of positive results for your business including boosting your reputation, increasing your sales, increasing your access to capital and motivating your employees. An obvious attraction of using such a service for businesses, however, is the money-saving potential.

Due to the money they save on wastage during the production process, eco-printing companies are typically in the position to offer you competitive prices, allowing you to make savings on your operational costs.

Eco-printing was once an exclusive service that could be expensive to use; however, supply is finally catching up with demand and, due to competitive prices, it is now more accessible to both large and small businesses. Buying your promotional products from an eco-design printing business can potentially save you and your business a great deal of money, which can then be reinvested in your business.

So what are you waiting for? Switch today and get both your business and the environment in a better position for the future.

You might have heard some voices claiming that we shouldn’t be so alarmed regarding the climate changes. Of course we should be careful about the way that we are using energy, but we should do so because of reasons that may be completely independent from the climate change.

Although people know that the change of the climate is a true threat, there are less and less people being concerned by it and one of the reasons for this is the poor economy, not to mention the emails that have been sent out by hackers and the corporate world that want individuals to think that there is nothing that they could personally do in this matter.

In 2010 there was a survey performed according to which only 47% of the people believe that climate changes are due to the human activity, while this percentage in 2008 went up to 57%.

Positive outlook

On the brighter side of things, it is possible that people don’t care that much about climate change anymore, because there are so many new kinds of energy resources. These resources will be able to set order in the world again and they will offer independence to the people from the energy’s point of view.

Besides this, there will be less pollution, new jobs will be created and people will be able to make a lot of economies.

The trends that are making people think more positively include an improvement of the energy intensity meaning that there are fewer emissions, conservation, the improvement of the use of wind power, and people are making more and more use of solar power.

Energy intensity is considered to be a relative measure and it means units of energy calculated per unit of GDP. It is shown that this measure might drop by 100% by 2035.

According to this, the energy needed to produce goods and services will drop by half.

The U. S. was able to show that in case of improved energy intensity, people can do a lot regarding emissions. In this region the greenhouse gas emissions have dropped by 7.5% in only one year. Although we also have to take the recession into consideration, this is responsible for only a small part of the improvements. The other improvements originated from carbon intensity and energy intensity.

You shouldn’t think that what you do doesn’t matter, because we can all do something for the world.

The different ecosystems of the planet, such as forests, oceans, coral reefs, etc. are all part of the biodiversity. Appropriate conservation and preservation of this ecological system or biodiversity helps us in not only living a healthier life, but also allows the future generations to live in glory as well. However, since time immemorial, various factors have greatly affected the precarious balance of this biological diversity.

The New Ecologist attempts to highlight some of the environmental issues and concerns that have an impact on all of us as a result of what we do and what we don’t do to the Mother Earth.

UK holidaymakers are being advised to take note of a series of handy hints issued by moneysupermarket.com, the leading price comparison website, if the recent eruption of Grimsvotn or any future volcanic activity threatens to hamper any upcoming travel plans.

Iceland’s most active volcano started erupting towards the end of May, immediately igniting concerns of a repeat of the scenes of 12 months ago when ash clouds from Eyjafjallajokull caused travel misery for millions.

Eyjafjallajokull made global news in April 2010 and led to the largest closure of airspace in Europe since World War II as nearly 10,000 flights were cancelled. The fall-out rumbled on for weeks and the financial cost was estimated to have been well in excess of £1billion.

Panic set in across airports throughout Europe as passengers struggled to come to terms with the news that they were stranded, while those without the best travel insurance faced the prospect of having to pay for extra accommodation and flights. 

Turn the clock forward just over a year and another Icelandic volcano, this time Grimsvotn, has erupted.The natural disaster has fuelled fears of another shutdown of European airspace, although fortunately for now, the impact has been felt on a much smaller scale.

With the summer months upon us and thousands of people preparing to jet off to foreign countries, Bob Atkinson, a travel insurance expert at moneysupermarket, has revealed a few timely tips for anyone with concerns about the threat that the volcano poses towards their holiday.

Atkinson commented: “As news of the Icelandic volcano eruption hits, with it brings the same travel uncertainty as we experienced in April 2010. For those who have booked a trip to Iceland, check with your tour operator or airline for the latest travel information.

“If you are travelling as part of an ATOL covered package, your tour operator will be able to advise on your total travel plans. It is the responsibility of the tour operator to cover all costs should air space be disrupted.  Those travellers still in the UK are entitled to refunds or transfers, and for those stranded overseas will be kept in accommodation at the expense of the tour operator.

“If you have independent arrangements then you need to speak to your airline as well as hotel companies and any others you have bookings with to check your options for cancellation, refunds and changes. Check your travel insurance policy, look for natural disaster and weather related clauses and understand what is covered in the policy. This will cover for things such as loss of travel arrangements, cost of new travel arrangements and travel delay.

“Should airspace actually close, travellers are urged not to do anything without speaking to their airline or tour operator first, checking their website for further information.”

Image Credit: NASA Goddard Photo and Video

What does a vacation mean? In the majority of cases people picture themselves on sunny beaches, sipping a cocktail or having a good swim in a nice pool. Others prefer to be more active on vacations and to experience something that they have never experienced before.

In this case you might be thinking about going on a safari or something of the sort. While this might sound a little extreme to some people, others truly take the idea of a vacation to the limits, and they visit willingly a place that others would pay to avoid.

It is said that in case you would like to see how hell is like, you might visit the place called “Hell on Earth” located in the Ethiopian Danakil desert. If you visit this place you can be sure to have the experience of a lifetime, because it will offer a sight that you will never forget.

You will find the air filled with different kinds of gases and foul smells. The sight that you will see might be closest to an alien terrain than the usual African Dessert you are familiar with.

Also you should know that visiting this place might be truly dangerous. The African tectonic plate might at any time split into two and lava would bubble up from under the surface.

The Erta Ale is an active volcano, and because of this the temperature of the air is usually of 115 degrees Fahrenheit. Although this isn’t the most hospitable location of the planet, there are still numerous tourists who are willing to pay to get there.

This way they will get to see the only one below the sea level volcano of the world and also the salt flats, bubbling sulfur pits, and mineral springs, not to mention the acid salt ponds.

The nature is surely showing its dark side here and one cannot help but wonder, what if our way of treating the world would turn the planet into a landscape looking exactly like this.

The water footprint term is not exactly new but rather something pushed forward more and more in the battle to protect the environment.

Saving water doesn’t only refer to the water we drink or the one we use for personal hygiene. Along the public system that provides us the water we need, there are other factors with a huge consumption rate of which we are slightly unaware.

The biggest consumers are the industry, the agriculture and the tourism. Also the largest proportion of the water consumed in the world goes to producing energy.

In UE the water distribution for country consumption is: 44% for energy, 24% for agriculture, 17% for public consumption and only 15% for industry.

The water footprint of a country shows the total water volume used for producing goods and services consumed by the inhabitants of that country.

Since not all the consumed goods are produced on the country’s territory the calculation includes the quantity of resources and the water consumption outside its frontiers.

We are not surprised that in Europe, the southern countries with a hotter climate have a larger water footprint than the ones from the northern area with a cooler temperature because the figure includes agriculture with the necessary irrigation, and the industry.

Greece is leading the chart with an annual water consumption of 2389 cubic meters for each inhabitant. Latvia is on the opposite side with only 684 cubic meters/ inhabitant while Sweden has the largest public consumption rate without agriculture and industry – 121 cubic meters for each inhabitant.

The China water footprint is around 700 cubic meters/inhabitant but only 7% of it is of a foreign origin. Japan, on the other hand, has 1150 cubic meters/inhabitant but more than 65% of it is placed abroad.

On a low scale, the above figures are strictly the result of the human behavior in report to every habit the inhabitants of a country apply in their everyday life.

This is why we should focus on picking products that bear the green label, products certified as having the smallest impact on the environment. A diet based on products which do not require water and energy consumption for preparation is the right way to go.

Use tap water instead of the bottled one. In the parts of the world where the water is drinkable, use a water filter and you will have safe water to consume. Bottled water is one of the top energy consumers because of its producing, transport and plastic bottles recycling, all of them adding to the public water footprint.

It is common knowledge that Greenland is covered by an ice surface thick enough to raise the water level of the planet with 6.6 meters if it would ever melt. Still, even if the world keeps getting warmer and warmer the island’s ice remains as it was – frozen.

Beginning with the year 2000 the scientists have monitored the edge of the Greenland shore with great concern because the large glaciers spreading from mountains to fiords started to slip towards the ocean faster and faster every year.

A new research conducted by Andreas Vieli from Durham University of Great Britain suggests a strange paradox. In spite of the planet getting warmer the glacier melting has been slowing down.

The conclusion of the research team comes from the computer simulations of the Helheim glacier, a long surface of ice spreading towards the see in the Eastern Greenland.

Between 2001 and 2005, the glacier has lost to the sea around 28 cubic kilometers in a year, when the melting rate considered stable was 40 kilometers/year.

The largest melting surface was eroded by the warming of the ocean waters which dug the glaciers from below, carving into their structure. When ice structure is eroded it breaks up more quickly.

Since the floating” tongues” of ice are responsible for stopping the glaciers from advancing towards the sea, the sea melting them can contribute to the ice melting.

However this is no longer the case of Greenland. When the glaciers have reached the fiords they tend to stop and retreat towards the land. This type of glacier movement may mean that the Greenland contribution to the water level rising is no longer a threat. Greenland might this way be safe.

However the Antarctica remains under the same danger from the warming ocean waters. Here the ice is spreading under the waters and if the waters manage to melt it the disaster will strike.

The glaciers from the Alps are also in danger from the rising earth temperature and the most pessimistic voices say that by 2100 the sweet water reserves as well as the ocean levels will be affected beyond repair.

The climate change is affecting the entire Earth surface where ice is currently ruling. The complex consequences of the environmental changes causing them, makes the issue seem beyond repair.

What if it is up to us to stop this from happening? The question remains: is human will stronger than glaciers?

Teaching your child on what exactly biodiversity is, may not be as easy as it looks. The term biodiversity includes lots of things in it. Therefore you will need to explain your children about the special link between animals, plants and people. The term biodiversity is a scientific term that unites all living forms on Earth. Explain to your child that the biodiversity has a local character too.

For instance, it unites all plant and animal species in an ecosystem. There are 3 types of biodiversity. The genetic diversity is the diversity of genes in different species.

The species diversity is the diversity of flora and fauna species in particular ecosystems or the Earth as a whole. Your child needs to know that any living organism in the planet is linked in a variety of ecosystems – combining the ecosystem on the planet. On our planet there are many different ecosystems – from the oceans to tropical forests, from savannas to the taiga, etc.

They are separated by differences in climate in different regions of the planet. This means that every region has its own ecosystem. The children must know that the biodiversity is a matter of protecting and keeping the nature clean.

The humans can protect the biodiversity in many ways, but most likely, there are several things that we should follow strictly. Teach your children that hunting and over-hunting is very dangerous, for it reduces the number of animals.

The habitat loss is also bad news. Too many buildings and roads, cutting down trees and the rapid growth of human comfort are the reasons behind habitat loss. The deforestation is bad for everyone – animals, plants and people alike.

Therefore your children must be taught to protest against it. The invasion of the foreign species is also a threat on the biodiversity.

Teach your kids to be against introducing foreign species to the local habitats.

The pollution and the climate change are the biggest threats to the biodiversity. Try to develop green habits, in order to teach your children to respect the nature.

In case you can’t do this by yourself, there are special organizations for children.

The Wildlife Watch is one of the UK’s leading environmental organizations for children.

There your child can take part in many green initiatives, which surely will teach him to keep the nature clean. Protecting the biodiversity is also part of the lessons in the organization.

The economy has forced many business owners and managers to look closely at their costs over the last eighteen months. The easy options in terms of reducing costs are the obvious ones; staff and infrastructure.

However, it has been interesting to see that a number of organizations have taken the opportunity to go further.

Every cloud has a silver lining as they say and some of these organizations have taken a creative approach to this opportunity for change. In addition to the emphasis on reducing costs there is growing realization that this opportunity for change allows for the introduction of greener business practices.

This is not entirely altruistic in that we can all recognize there is a real debate about the role of green taxes in the economy.

As one manager explained to me, everyone understands that the economy means that we are simply selling less stuff. Staff understand that our choices as a business are often simple and often very stark.

This means that the workforce have been much more open to the idea of change. This has helped create the right cultural conditions for introducing new ideas and this has played an important role in the logic and decision making. `

I have seen a number of clients looking to take a more strategic view, looking to make the most this opportunity for change. In Unsurprisingly there are some common themes :-

1. Business Process Improvement
2. Paperless Office
3. Homeworking

Business Process Improvement – A Euphemism for Staff Cuts?

The focus here is how to operate key administrative or back-office processes more effectively; more work and less staff equate to lower transaction costs. The easy targets are the paper based systems. Every business has them, particularly a small business. These processes often tend to be manual and lack scalability. Therefore digitizing these processes so they are managed electronically can deliver significant benefits to most businesses. In many cases this means more effective use of resources and improved scalability rather than just redundancies.

The Paperless Office – Fact or Fiction?

Personally I don’t like the phrase paperless office. I think it is over used and has some negative baggage. However, I think the sentiment is correct. Eliminating manual processes such HR; expenses claims; accounts payable claims handling not only saves on paper waste and definitely greener but it plays an important part in business process improvement.

Technology plays a critical role and the software as a service market place driven by organizations such as Google has made the technology solutions to support these kind of services far more accessible particularly for the small and medium enterprise who do not have ready access IT skills and resources.

Larger organizations have been able to invest much earlier but as a small business manager your are much more focused on that day-to-day practicalities of running a business.

This new generation of software tools tend to have a much lower cost of deployment; with menu driven configuration for key features such as work flow and access controls. There is no new server or software licenses or recruitment of technical staff and therefore total cost of ownership remains low.

Homeworking – lets abolish rush hour!

Enables organizations to reduce their office space, it is much kinder on the environment. Many of us spend at least an hour a day commuting. There is a personal cost as well as a cost to the environment.

In the past home working has been the preserve of managers, perhaps call center staff, sales people, engineers and other field based staff.
However, by taking the opportunity to optimize your back-office and administrative functions you can put in place the technology infrastructure to work and collaborate remotely removing the paper removes the dependency for staff to be located in the same office.

Clearly the technology makes a contribution to your carbon footprint but by using browser enabled applications you are largely making use of existing infrastructure and any incremental carbon costs can easily be offset through the positive impact of a truly paperless office.
I have not sat down and crunched the numbers but I bet even reducing your commuting hours by 20% you will see a marked increase in productivity and a significant reduction in carbon emissions.

Has anyone completed such a study?

> Author:

Dajon provide complete document and data management solutions helping to reduce costs and improve staff productivity.

Who would not look in awe and amazement at the sight of a beautiful Giant Panda! The rarity of this solitary animal found in China and the danger it faces as an endangered species, make it all the more awe-inspiring.

Towering mountain peaks and thick bamboo forests and steep valleys covered by cloud and mist are the Giant Panda’s home. They eat bamboo and come together only during the mating season otherwise preferring a private living.

It’s a pity that these beautiful animals are going extinct, thanks again to human interference and occupation of their living space.

Here are some interesting facts you would want to know about these lovely creatures:

(Click on the image to see Full View)