How Businesses Can Keep Up as the World Goes Paperless

By Adam Taylor
Now more than ever, the world is becoming increasingly fast-paced, interconnected, and environmentally conscious. As the professional landscape continues to grow more complex, tried-and-true organizational methods are becoming obsolete. Going paperless can help an organization keep up with the competition in this constantly shifting business environment, while also benefiting the actual environment. This might seem like a complicated change, but it doesn’t have to be. With these tips, you can take your business paperless and do your part to make a difference.

What Are the Advantages?
When converting data and documentation to a digital system, the advantages are worth the effort. General office supplies such as paper and toner need to be purchased less frequently and in smaller quantities. Bulky equipment such as faxes and printers become less of a necessity. The cost of waste and recycling management is also reduced.
This makes room not only in the literal office space but in the budget. Studies show that reproducing and distributing a single-page file costs a company $180 on average. Also worth considering is the boost a company’s reputation can gain from a “going green” initiative. Modern consumers appreciate an environmentally friendly organization, and one of the most common and comprehensive ways to achieve that image is by going paperless.

How Can Employees Benefit?
With such a large undertaking, it’s important to have the support of the entire workforce while making the switch. Fortunately, a paperless initiative benefits much more than the company’s bottom line. Employees can communicate more effectively, and a lack of handwritten information reduces the chances of human error. Information is both more secure and more widely accessible when backed up digitally. Workers do not need to track down a physical document or for that matter even be on-site to access it. These advantages can assure the team’s desire to buy into the concept of a paperless office.
Is Going Paperless Safer?
The security benefits of going paperless are twofold. Documents are far more secure behind digital login credentials than filed away physically. Besides preventing unauthorized access or tampering, digitizing documents also protects them from loss and damage. When information is backed up to the network, it’s out of the path of any on-site catastrophes.
Where Do We Start?
When going paperless, it can be a challenge to know where to begin. Existing documents should be digitized wherever possible and meticulously filed away if not. On the employee side, everything from payroll to health benefits can be converted. Many companies utilize direct deposit now, but some still provide paper paystubs by mail when an email would suffice. There are also apps employees can use to track data such as hours worked and insurance information.

How Do We Continue?
With existing documents organized and digitized where possible, how does the company move forward? Luckily there is an ever-growing variety of tools, software, and strategies to streamline the switch. Premade templates for anything from paystubs to memos are widely available.
Rather than rely on paper forms of marketing, switching to digital marketing and social media marketing can save on paper and costs. This is where social media can be a godsend. In the past, businesses would have to rely on expensive print ads and direct mail campaigns to reach their target audience. However, with the advent of social media marketing, companies can now reach a much wider audience at a fraction of the cost.
Online ads, for example, allow businesses to target specific demographics with laser precision. This means that businesses can save a significant amount of money on paper and postage costs. In addition, social media marketing is highly effective in building brand awareness and generating leads. As a result, it is an extremely cost-effective way to market any business. Plus, the process to design an online ad is simplified when you rely on templates that allow you to fully customize your ads to fit your needs. Look for free tools to make this a quick and easy task.
How Does Going Paperless Help in the Long Run?
While it may at first seem like a massive undertaking, going paperless is becoming a necessity for modern business. The improvements to productivity, efficiency, budget, and the environment will continue long after the initial effort is spent. All aspects of life are becoming increasingly digitized. The sooner companies convert, the better they’ll be able to compete in this ever-changing landscape. So revisit your methods for storing documents, switch to direct deposit, and turn to social media marketing to save money and make inroads for the environment.

Dealing with Climate Change Stress

Image via Pexels

8 Ways to Relieve Stress From Climate Change

by Cheryl Conklin

The concern over climate change has increased significantly recently. If you’re feeling stressed about the future of the planet, worry not — there are plenty of things you can do to take care of the planet and relieve your stress levels at the same time. Here are eight ways to relieve your stress from climate change today, presented below by Forest Unlimited

1. Use Public Transportation

Using public transportation is a more eco-friendly way of getting around. Not only does it get you where you need to go without releasing excess emissions into the atmosphere, but it also reduces your carbon footprint. Plus, there’s no need for you to waste money on gas. As an added bonus, it’s safer!

2. Take a Staycation

You probably have a stack of vacation days that you haven’t used. Instead of blowing your money on a trip, take a vacation close to home. Getting away from it all doesn’t always mean booking an expensive, gas-guzzling flight. It could be as simple as visiting a park or curling up with a good book. There are plenty of ways you can recharge and refresh without leaving town.

3. Make More Use of Friends

Friends can help you in your carbon-cutting efforts, especially if they live near you. Living close by makes it easy for friends to carpool or bike together to work and school. Creating a group of environmentally conscious friends committed to a low-carbon lifestyle will strengthen your resolve, provide fun socializing opportunities, and motivate each other toward environmental goals. You can also use social media to promote your healthy lifestyle.

4. Reduce Meat Consumption

While scientists aren’t exactly sure how much meat is too much, it’s clear that the consumption of red meat (beef, pork, and lamb) has a big impact on health and climate. The livestock industry generates massive emissions — 14.5% of all greenhouse gases emitted today.

5. Reduce Energy Use at Home

One of your most important contributions to fighting climate change starts at home. By making simple changes such as replacing incandescent light bulbs with LEDs and turning off lights and appliances when you leave a room — you can substantially reduce your energy use.

6. Reduce Your Company’s Carbon Footprint

If you’re not using renewable energy sources, a carbon calculator can help your business determine how much greenhouse gas you produce and determine your carbon footprint. Then create a timeline of how you’ll become more environmentally conscious and achieve sustainability goals through product mapping.

One way to reduce your business’s carbon footprint is to create an efficient invoicing process. You can make clear, easy-to-read custom invoices using an online invoice generator. You can quickly create great-looking invoices with custom colors, graphics, and text in minutes. Then you can download them to use as you like.

7. Relieving Anxiety

First, try to stay informed without worrying too much. While there’s a lot of talk about climate change, there’s still time to reduce carbon footprints and lessen the impact. Second, try creating a plan of action. If you’re still feeling anxious, try meditating or practicing yoga. Apps like Headspace offer guided meditation that’s accessible and easy to do anywhere. The practice can help improve your mood and lower your anxiety. Get out into the forest for a hike or visit the Ocean or a lake. Exercise and spending time in beautiful green environments are proven ways to relieve anxiety.

8. Start an Eco-Friendly Business

A great place to direct your personal energy is by starting an eco-friendly business that can both raise awareness and protect the environment. You can create an S Corp in California, which is either an LLC or corporation, for your business with the help of a formation company. An S Corp can help you save money on self-employment taxes to be able to do more good work.

Ease Your Stress

With climate change, you may feel helpless and overwhelmed. But there are things you can do to ease your stress and combat global warming. For more ways to help, check out Forest Unlimited today!

Get our newsletter the Forest Communique’

Fore you forest news junkies we publish a newsletter, Forest Communique’ three or four times a year. It’s printed with soy inks on 100% postconsumer recycle paper and mailed to your address. We cover local forest news, proposed logging plans, forest protection research and important events. If you would like to receive Forest Communique’ send us an email with your snail mail address.

Should We Plant or Protect?

The short answer is: both. However, it is good to understand that, in terms extracting climate-changing carbon dioxide from the air, protecting existing mature forests is more effective than planting small seedlings. It will take decades for a seedling equal the carbon storage of a mature conifer. Unfortunately we don’t have decades to head off the disasterous effects of climate change. This video by our friends in Napa County says it better than I can:Watch their video

Why Sonoma County Needs a Solid Tree Protection Ordinance–A White Paper

The Protect Our Working Woodlands group has prepared a white paper (see below) explaining the background and need for strong science based tree protections in Sonoma County.

We, unlike many other areas, still have trees. Many might not be aware, however, that the county approves many proposals that clear our shared woodlands off the landscape under current County rules. The County currently issues over counter permits even for very large clearing proposals without mitigating efforts, environmental review, or public Notice. Now, after many years of public pressure, the County is revisiting its tree policies.

This white paper is meant to be concise and to help prepare the public to weigh in now by writing your Board of Supervisors (bos@sonoma-county.org) before May 18th, and consider making a public comment on May 18th during the Board of Supervisor’s meeting in support of broad science based tree protection measures necessary to draw down carbon, as well as the other critical benefits for water, shade, soil stability and wildlife.

White Paper (download pdf)

Defending Our Working Woodlands

Although mature trees, woodlands, and forests (trees) are capable of immediately taking huge amounts of carbon out of our atmosphere at a scale–that in combination with reduced CO2 emissions–can greatly and cheaply mitigate our adverse impacts on the climate in the short time we have left to avoid catastrophic changes to younger generations, thousands of acres of trees are vulnerable and they are being removed, from the landscape under current county land use policies.

The current Sonoma County Tree Ordinance policy (1986) is scientifically outdated and severely undervalues the importance of trees and woodlands to people, to wildlife, and to the critical struggle to reverse the climate crisis.

The Scientific Imperative for Trees

Scientists agree, protecting existing forests is the best low-cost approach for immediately sequestering atmospheric carbon dioxide, ultimately reducing climate change impact:

“With respect to pulling harmful carbon out of the atmosphere, natural forests are by far the most effective.” (Lewis et al., 2019 ).

“Standing forests are the only proven system that can remove and store vast amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at the scale necessary to keep global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees celcius this century. It is therefore essential to not only prevent further emissions from fossil fuels, deforestation, forest degradation, bioenergy, but also to expand our forests’ capacity to remove carbon from the atmosphere, and store it long-term.” (IPCC, Moomaw, Ph. D. et al. Intact Forests in the United States: Proforestation Mitigates Climate Change and Serves Greatest Good. emphasis added).

“Climate science shows that we cannot stop a climate catastrophe without scaling up the protection of forests around the world, including in the United States.” Statement from 200 US based elected officials, organizations, and eminent scientists including 40 mayors, and the Sunrise Movement. (#Stand4Forests)

Drawing Down Carbon — Reductions and Emissions

While new technologies may be coming that may take carbon out of the atmosphere, we must also use what we know works now. Time is not on our side. The IPCC estimates we have approximately 10 years to drastically change our activities to avoid critical temperature rise.

“Technologies for direct [Carbon dioxide removal] CDR from the atmosphere, and bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), are far from being technologically ready or economically viable.” (IPCC scientist -Moomaw, Masino, et al)

Relying on new tree plantings will not accomplish the task, as new forests pale when compared to a mature forests carbon sequestration value. “Newly planted forests require many decades to a century before they sequester carbon dioxide in substantial quantities.” (IPCC).

Under Cutting the Future of Fires in Our Communities
The fires blowing through our communities are the result of past development models, and we now need new models.

Continued destruction of the forests occurring here and around the world in combination with vast emissions will continue to make both the climate and fires worse. Removing more trees is not the answer. Fire scientists are telling tell us that the best way to protect communities and homes now from fire is to make the homes themselves ready for these fires by removing all flammable material within five feet of structures and carefully managing the property immediately around the home and out buildings (Jack Cohen, Ph. D.).

The wind driven fires we have seen are not stopped by thinning or clearing trees out in the wildlands. The fuel that is vulnerable to these embers–driven by winds across large rivers and freeways, are the flammable materials around homes.

The real work of protecting communities and homes requires fighting climate change as effectively as we know how and leaning into modern fire education and public policy. As the science explains, protecting forests and woodlands in combination with significant reductions of emissions will effectively deliver the balance and security we all seek.

A modern Science Based Model by Sonoma County

The lands within the borders of Sonoma County have the capacity to grow trees that many in less nature-rich areas envy. Tree removal, even on a very large scale, unfortunately, continues to be considered appropriate public policy in Sonoma County.

We seek a comprehensive, fair, open, and scientifically based approach to protecting a resource that provides benefits to the community and that is a shared resource for the community as a whole.

We are asking the County of Sonoma to:
Update the County Tree Protection Ordinance, based on the best climate science incorporating input from the community to that end;
Pass an immediate, temporary moratorium on approvals of significant tree clearing in Sonoma County until such time as our Tree Protection Ordinance is updated and reflects the value of trees in climate mitigation;
Recogize the scientific emphasis on preserving mature trees across the board because mature trees and second growth trees are scientifically shown to be among our best carbon sinks;
Also consider fire safety around homes, defensible community spaces, essential food farming, and very low income housing as important values;
Protect trees as a means to protect vulnerable communities from the worst impacts of climate change;
In closing, Sonoma County must do all it can to protect future generations from the devasting effects of climate change. It can do so by embracing the science with respect to the important role trees play in our struggle to rein in green house gases in as rapid a manner as possible and thereby respect the younger generation’s right to a habitable planet.