Can a few employees make a difference?

For Green Practices in the office, the answer is a resounding YES.

April 22nd marked Earth Day. It provided an opportunity to look at our company’s Green Practices. When evaluating the company, I had the chance to look at several initiatives started by team members during our 5 years in business. It was very cool to see how they added up over the years, and how we continue to make contributions.

Top 5 Ways You’re Saving the World by Learning with InnovativeLanguage.com

1. Paperless Lessons: Forget about wasteful textbooks! Learn Japanese on your mobile phone, iPad, PC, or iPod. Think of all the paper you save when you switch to online Flashcards!

2. Paperless Communication: All communication, transactions and customer interactions are done electronically, the way it should be.

The first two are related to the nature of our product. We’re really happy about this, and choose to believe that green electricity is used to power student’s devices when using our programs. And while we know that we’re not there yet, we are hopeful that we’ll get that some day.

3. Green Office Practices (plus some pictures from around the office):

• Separation of trash: It takes a bit of practice and discipline, but makes a big difference in the big picture (the Japanese government gets credit for this one)
• Lights off during bright times of the day: Using what nature provides us, the essence of going green! (Team Member)

• Using Paper on both sides: We use every inch of paper before putting it in the recycling bin (Team Member)

• Office Thermometer: To help us regular office temperature and reduce power (Team Member)

 4. Green Office Admin:

• Electronic pay slips (Team Member)

5. Green Commuting Incentives:

• We pay for transportation, so if you bike to work, you keep the stipend (Team Member)

Of course, our environmentally friendly initiatives don’t stop there. Earth Day is a great reminder to reevaluate our practices and be more responsible citizens of the world.

Peter Galante is the founder of InnovativeLanguage.com and he’s currently learning Chinese.