101 Things Designers Can Do to Save The Earth

The first thing to do is reduce the amount of carbon-based energy your design practice uses by reducing your energy consumption by turning off lights, two-sided printing, using pdfs rather than printouts, and encouraging your staff to use mass transit–among other things. At some point though, you’ll still consumer carbon-based energy, which is bad for global warming and your guilt factor. For those energy leftovers, you can purchase carbon offsets. The money you spend, in turn, goes to support projects that reduce carbon dioxide emissions in some other part of the economy. Since most small businesses generate about 70 tons of carbon dioxide each year through their energy use, you can become carbon-neutral by purchasing a 70-ton offset for $385 from organizations such as carbonfund.org.  Yes, it’s a little difficult to get your brain wrapped around this idea, but trust us that you’ll be doing a good thing in the fight against global warming, and you can definitely market your carbon-neutral position to prospective clients.