As we are slowly approaching the end of the first quarter of the millennium, society is becoming increasingly aware of the impact their lives have on the state of the environment. For decades, there has been talk about the effects of the use of fossil fuels on climate change and global warming, but every solution seems to be very big and out of reach for us to be able to make any significant change.

The most well-known climate action spokesperson is Al Gore, without a doubt, who released his documentary film An Inconvenient Truth about the topic in 2006. His film was widely acclaimed and even a catalyst for a comprehensive range of positive (and unfortunately negative) responses to the climate issue. Effectively, Gore helped bring to light the realities of what humans have done to our planet over time with regards to pollution and offered ways that we, as an entire society, can make positive changes to slow down and potentially halt any further damage .

For many of us these things can seem out of reach for us to feel like we are making a difference, even if it’s something really small. Every one of us creates something called a carbon Footprint. TakePart gives a great definition of the carbon footprint as: “the amount of greenhouse gases—primarily carbon dioxide—released into the atmosphere by a particular human activity”. This means that everything we do, from the food we consume to our chosen means of travel, has some sort of effect on the amount of greenhouse gases that are dispersed into the world.

Look at the impact that human involvement has had on temperature changes. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an international organisation founded in 1988 that looks at the facts and figures which directly and indirectly contribute to climate change and their socio-economic and environmental consequences .

Cut down on business traveling, start teleconferencing!

In their most recent summary report for policy makers, they state that the drastic increase in greenhouse gas emissions since the pre-industrial era is extremely likely to be the cause of the unanticipated and dangerous changes in climate that we have been experiencing, especially in the last two decades .

In this Series on Sustainability, we aim to give you a more detailed and accessible understanding of the state of carbon dioxide emissions in industry. Furthermore, we hope to offer helpful tips on how you can make an impact by making more educated decision about your business travel needs. We encourage you to cut down on your monthly business travel through the use of teleconferencing. Keep an eye on this space for the next installment of this series where we will break down the effects of air travel on the stated of carbon dioxide emissions.

In the meantime, do not hesitate to get in contact with us for a free quote to implement virtual numbers for all of your business’ teleconferencing needs.

In this installment of our Series on Sustainability, be prepared to learn the extent to which your air travel truly impacts our planet.

While the Environmental Protection Agency’s calculations state that carbon dioxide emissions from commercial air travel is only equivalent to about 9% of the total US emissions (reports here, table 3-12), it is on the top of the list of things we can do as individuals to engage in polluting the world just a little bit less.

How many times per month do your nationwide colleagues travel for meetings? Did you know that for a round-trip flight from New York to San Francisco (about 5158 miles), 1270 lbs (or approximately 0.6 tonnes) of carbon dioxide are calculated per person through fuel combustion? If we look at a rule of thumb of 4-15 trees planted to offset 1 tonne of carbon dioxide, it takes the work of about 6 healthy adult trees for a full year per person per flight. According to Google Flights, there are up to 41 flights per day between these cities. So if there are 100 people on the flight, that’s 600 trees per flight, or 24,600 trees per day needing to be planted for this route alone!

If that’s the number for coast to coast travel, think about how much pollution is created when travelling overseas for meetings. An average intercontinental flight – let’s say from Washington, D.C., to London, UK – is a 7332 miles round-trip. Pollution wise, that’s 1563 lbs (or 0.7 tonnes) of carbon dioxide. If we do the math, you would have to plant closer to 9 trees per person to counteract the effects. Given that international flying planes are larger, let’s say there are about 234 people, that’s 2106 trees to plant per flight.

Why teleconferencing helps the environment

We simply do not have the space or resources on our tiny planet to be able to offset such drastic carbon dioxide emissions. By minimizing air travel for business, think about the amount of pollution you could avoid contributing per capita.

In order to do so, we strongly believe in the power of conference calling using our non-geographical, virtual phone numbers. Any number of people can join in on business meetings through the ease of telephony without having to leave the office, deal with jet lag, and (arguably most important) pollute our precious planet.

Get in contact today for a free quote to implement your toll-free virtual numbers so we can help you do your part in keeping our planet just a little bit safer from the effects of climate change.

In this installment of the sustainability series, we thought it would be interesting to take a moment to take a closer look at air travel for business purposes. In the last post, we talked about the cost of carbon dioxide emissions on the environment and how its intensity seems to be growing exponentially. Here, we thought we ought to share some of our own ideas and strategies for minimizing our carbon footprints by changing our behavior when it comes to business travel.

If it isn’t obvious already, one of the topics that really grinds our gears is that of extensive business travel. It’s true that with the globalization of the economy moving as fast as it is today, there are some instances where it might be imperative to make the plane journey to face-to-face meetings. We won’t deny that, as some of our staff have out-of-country meetings which require air travel, too. For international partnerships which require crossing the ocean, we absolutely understand that it’s just not plausible to hop on the Queen Mary II to get across the Atlantic from the East Coast.

Cut back on business travel

But hear us out on this one! Think about the number of meetings that don’t require such long and difficult distances. There are plenty of times where carpooling or a train journey can take the place of a flight. Sure, it may take longer to arrive, but these alternative forms of transport have their bonuses. Think about the time you could spend discussing the particulars for an important meeting with your colleagues, or simply just take some time out of your busy schedule to watch the world go by.

Currently, jet fuel and aviation gasoline are taxed very low, which has given the opportunity for airlines to offer lower and lower ticket prices. As such, inexpensive travel has become so integral to the way we run our business that we are so easily persuaded and addicted to traveling. An organization which promotes “a transport policy based on the principles of sustainable development” called Transport and Environment has created a briefing which suggests the possibility of a drastic increase in taxes, ticket prices would inevitably be forced to rise.

Now, for large, multinational conglomerates, such an increase in the price of travel may not make a dent in their monthly expenses. However, this could seriously damage midsize and smaller businesses who are at the core of economic growth and arguably the largest generators of today’s jobs. Even the slightest increases to their travel expenses could create major budgeting issues, and even potential collapse of their businesses. This begs us to question: Are we on the verge of yet another economic recession? Could we see our current 4% unemployment rate burst above and beyond the 10.2% we saw in 2009?

Maybe it’s not ideal or convenient to change the way we travel for business, but at the rate we are going, not only might businesses collapse under the financial pressures, but our planet, too. The less we opt for unnecessary travel, the less flights are needed per day between destinations. This means that the large amount of emissions from a large amount of flights can be drastically minimized! In case you forgot, it takes about 2106 trees to repair the damage done by a single flight from D.C. to London!

So, let’s think about those smaller, shorter trips and meetings which could be eliminated altogether. Think about the time, money, and effort that can be saved from using teleconferencing rather than traveling to and from constant meetings between national and international offices.

Imagine this.

It’s mid-21st century. Year 2047.

Worldwide, annual carbon emissions have dropped in the past 30 years from 410 ppm in 2018 to below 300 ppm. The lowest we’ve seen since the start of the Industrial Revolution just 100 years ago.

Climate increase has come to a staggering stop, keeping us in the safe range predicted by scientists. Our glaciers have been given the opportunity to recover from years of melting. Permafrost in the North and South poles have not seen a change in more than 20 years.

Sea levels have not risen as we feared at the beginning of the century. In turn, the whole of the Caribbean has survived and tourism to the islands has hit an all-time high. Underwater ecosystems in every one of our oceans, lakes, rivers, and streams are thriving, just as they should be. The Great Barrier Reef has not only recovered from extensive damage in the 20th century, but it has grown by nearly 30%!

What a dream that would be. And did you know that it’s not so impossible for us to attain?

We can do it!

As a species we, humanity, have started to focus on repairing the damage we’ve done to our precious Earth. We continue to strive for sustainability and ecological well-being, leaving greed and pollution behind.

The United Nations have worked hard over the course of 21 years of global meetings to draft and sign a plan called Paris Climate Agreement. Officially, this agreement came into action in November 2016.

There are a number of elements to the Paris agreement, the main one is to work together and lower annual carbon emissions to pre-industrial days. The hope is that by doing this, we will be able to maintain climate change at 2 degrees (or less!) Celsius in the future.

Even more, the Agreement aims to have all those involved — over 190 countries — work together towards more sustainable practices, and building the technology and infrastructure needed to maintain such practices.

Perhaps one of the most important aims is for climate change education, access to information, and getting the public involved in and aware of what we can be doing on a daily basis to help heal our Earth from further damage. It is so incredibly important for us to understand what it is each and every one of us can do to make positive change.

Set-backs won’t lead to a full stop

With that said, that dream we mentioned earlier? That dream may become obsolete due to decisions made by the current administration.

Unfortunately, on June 1, 2017, the President made a bold statement that the United States would be pulling out of the Agreement. His reasoning? He believes the previous administration made a poor economic deal. He has since stated that while he is all for clean air and clean water, it does not make sense to him to make a deal from which the United States will not make profit.

Luckily for the other 195 countries who have agreed to comply with the Paris Agreement, the United States’ potential rescinding from the deal will not cause a collapse of its framework. The lack of funding from the United States, however, will cause a wide funding gap in the plan which may make it difficult to keep up.

The change comes from us, not just the Paris Agreement

It is us who consume, who travel, who need to heat and cool our homes, and so it is us who need to make intentional changes. Overarching governmental bodies can have as many agreements and regulations in place as they want, but nothing will change if we don’t.

Why wait for The Man to make agreements and decisions about legislation that directly affects our lives? Why not work towards bettering the world, one small bit at a time?

The Paris Agreement wants to heighten taxation on carbon emissions. But what if, instead, we offered benefits to those of us who make concessions in our day to day life? What if city governments implemented a City Pass that you could use whenever you shop locally. With the pass, you could save up points (like an AirMiles card!) and at the end of the year you could submit your points to get some sort of reward. That reward might look like savings on city taxes for the coming year. Or maybe even an extra rebate on your income tax return.

Imagine how motivated this would get people to stay local instead of expending their energy on going long distances, both physical and carbon-fueled! Is this a viable solution? Who knows! But what’s important is that we start to think about these possibilities, it will benefit us in the near and distant future!

It’s interesting to see how often it comes up in the news these days that we are damaging the planet with excessive travel. At the end of 2018, we brought you our Series on Sustainability. In the series, we explained the basics of climate change and how business travel can cause harmful effects on the environment.

Approximately 600 trees need to be planted to replenish the Earth’s oxygen levels one cross-country flight between New York and San Francisco. At 41 flights between these destinations, that’s a whopping 24,600 trees to be planted per day!

However, companies continue to send their employees on cross-country business meetings. As the economy grows, costs rise. Soon enough, small and medium sized companies won’t be able to keep up with their large counterparts. Travel expenses may be pennies to a large company, but it could lead a small or medium sized business to bankruptcy.

There are plenty of ways we hope and wish that governments and businesses will make changes to frequency that we travel. We would love to see a world where everyone is making small steps in their everyday life to help save the only planet we have!

One possibility to offset the demands of travel are business telephonic solutions.

Use your virtual PBX

Having access to the virtual PBX means your employees can work from anywhere. This can allow you to hire people who live in other cities without worrying about footing the cost of travel. When there is an important conference to attend cross-country or overseas, whoever makes the trip can easily communicate with the office.

Local phone numbers

To minimize travel between business meetings, we can help you set up local phone numbers. This allows your distant colleagues and clients to contact you without having to pay the long-distance costs. And, for urgent situations, this is a great solution to emergency travel for meetings.

Conference call-in numbers

Avoid traveling cross-country by making use of conference calls rather than face-to-face meetings. Those invited to the conference call can access it through a bridge number. This is a number they can call to connect to the teleconference from wherever they are. This gives you less of a need for frequent meetings, and your business travel expenses will be considerably lower.

A bonus to all of these solutions? By engaging in less business travel, your company’s carbon footprint will decrease dramatically! Saving money and saving the planet? We call that a win-win situation!

Contact us today to learn about these solutions and more.