Ripple Effect

There are direct environmental and economical benefits to implementing sustainable initiatives. Each time someone makes a decision to do something that is good for our environment and acts upon it, they create an ongoing positive ripple effect. For example, following through with initiatives such as turning off the lights or adjusting the thermostats creates the direct positive effect of reducing energy demand, which reduces pollution from power plants, which improves the quality of our environment, sustainably saves money, and increases our spending power, which helps our economy.

Another example would be to eliminate deliveries of hard copy documents from your business model if possible and send Portable Document Format (PDF) documents via email or File Transfer Protocol (FTP) sites. Again, less paper demand, less power demand, fewer deliveries, less burning of fossil fuel, less pollution, which improves the quality of our environment, sustainably saves money, etc.

Thinking these examples through a little further will reveal an ongoing positive ripple effect. When power plant production slows, coal mining slows, therefore less fossil fuel consumption (for mining operations), less mining vehicles and machinery demand. When deliveries are eliminated this reduces fuel consumption, vehicle maintenance, reduced parts demand, less tire production, thereby indirectly reducing energy consumption, reducing pollution, etc.

One might question all the jobs that might be lost due to these reduced demands. I would like to point out the money that is being saved which provides more local buying power which creates local jobs, improves our local economy, and provides a healthier environment. With the money saved, purchase things that are made from recycled material or are more energy efficient, which keeps waste out of our landfills, creates a demand for sustainable products, reduces power demand, which provides more spending money, which creates jobs and a healthier environment.

We each have the power to create an endless ripple effect based on our actions. It is either endless toward things that are good for our environment, or it is endless toward things that are bad for our environment. We each have the knowledge to make the right choice and it’s up to each one of us to decide, and then act upon our decisions.