Forest Service Chief Gail Kimbell has mandated that the agency green up its operations. It’s now part of our official mission to make our operations more sustainable — by reducing our carbon footprint, by reducing our waste stream, and by managing the forests to help mitigate climate change. It’s so refreshing to see real leadership on environmental issues, at the highest levels of our agency no less!
One aspect of Chief Kimbell’s plan is that each forest creates its own Green Team. The Green Teams’ purpose is to examine the agency’s practices at the local level, and to help reduce our environmental impacts wherever possible.
I am on the Green Team for the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. We determined that in addition to sustainable operations, our mission would also include increasing employee awareness of things they can do both at work AND at home. Because after all, it’s not just about what goes into the recycle bin at the office — for us to have a real impact, we need to implement green practices in every facet of our lives.
One way we are doing this is by a monthly newsletter. This gets posted for employees to read (in my office, it gets posted in the bathroom stalls, to great success). Every month we aim to provide information that can help people at home — by reducing energy consumption, by highlighting local recycling programs, by discussing green product alternatives — whatever!
I’d like to share some of that information with all of you. I hope that not only will you find the information useful for your own lives, but also that you might be inspired to form your own Green Teams at work.
So, the first Thursday of every month will be a “green” post from me with the newsletter. I’ll upload it in pdf format, so y’all should be able to open it. If there are any technical problems — let me know and we’ll work on it!
For more information on the Forest Service’s Climate Change and green programs, visit the official website: http://www.fs.fed.us/kidsclimatechange/climate.shtml . There are links aplenty, as well as pdf resource guides on various topics.
How fantastic, thanks so much for making this information available. I look forward to learning from the newsletters and perhaps implementing some of the ideas in my workplace.