At Critical Action, we do practical things that reduce our impact on the environment, even as a small business:

• All light bulbs are low energy – and have been for many years
• Our IT infrastructure is virtualised on hardware specifically chosen for its low power and cooling needs
• We use video-conference and “application sharing” technologies to replace some meetings and therefore reduce travel
• We use electronic internal systems and processes that don’t require paper, following a push to reduce our use of paper and printing
• We actively recycle packaging for items we buy and use, and “freecycle” redundant office and IT equipment

Our philosophy is that environmental stewardship is about efficiency and that small, everyday things like those above, as well as major changes, make a difference. Longer term for example, we are looking at the feasibility of changing our office heating to solar power.

Our office is close to Peterborough, one of the UK’s four Environment Capitals (http://www.ukenvironmentcapital.com/), in a rural location that contains a vast array of habitats and areas vulnerable to flooding. This keeps us very aware of environmental concerns. Regardless of one’s view of climate changes, causes and effects, it makes sense to use resources much more efficiently.

As such, we currently do all of the suggestions on the Peterborough Environment City Trust’s Pledge (http://www.ukenvironmentcapital.com/pledge/) and encourage other businesses to do the same.