Environmental Impact Statement
Contributing to a safe and sustainable environment is important to me. We must carefully consider the environmental impacts of our choices in life, including where to live and how to live and work. I am committed in my work and personal life to reducing my impact on the environment. This is demonstrated by my choices to walk or use public transit as much as possible, to reduce the amount of "stuff' coming into my home/office, paying particular attention to single-use items or wasteful plastic items, and to reuse, recycle and compost as much as possible.
Lefler Information Services is a freelance, home based business operated from my family home in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. I will attend work at an office (hopefully one on a bus route), if a contract requires me to do so, but so far my freelance work has been done at home.
Commuting
I am able to avoid the costs and environmental impacts of commuting: the burning of fossil fuels and crowding of the roads during rush hour. This reduces my carbon footprint. It also saves at least one hour per day of time.
Reducing waste
I am frugal with paper and ink, and work from the monitor screen as often as possible. When a job requires printing, as for final proofing, I recycle paper to use both sides, and for larger jobs I send the document out to be printed double sided. Some of the strategies I use to minimize paper use include reformatting documents prior to printing (using two columns, reduced margins, and smaller font), and doing as much business online as possible. Marketing and billing is done via email and the world wide web. Paper copies of sensitive or confidential information are shredded prior to being recycled.
Working at home means I use my own dishes for meals and coffee. Food waste is less than when purchasing prepared meals, and is composted.
Productivity and Reliability
Unless there is an extended power outage, I can work during any weather conditions like snowstorms that might otherwise make it difficult to travel to an office. If my day is interrupted by appointments or family responsibilities I can be productive intermittently and in the evening in my home office. I have a quiet room to work in which provides a good environment for concentrating on work, without many of the distractions of the open concept cubicle at most offices.
Linda Lefler
2011