What is your carbon-footprint?

I’m sure everyone in Delhi must have been baffled and to some extent annoyed by the recent dust storm hitting Delhi and other parts of North India last week.

Baffled, because a dust storm of this magnitude and force has not been witnessed in these parts for some time now. And annoyed, because the inconveniences caused were not limited to lack of visibility and the strong winds – Delhi’s biggest commuting service, the metro was shut down and many parts of Delhi NCR witnessed power outages that lasted well into the night.

This is Mother Nature just showing a small glimpse of what it can do. If it can procreate, it can very well finish life, as we know it. We can very easily accept it as change and give it a fancy name like evolution, but the question to be asked is – how are we contribution to this change? Do we have the power to stop it or are we helpless at the hands and whims of nature?

We all know how greenhouse gases and other man made anomalies have the capacity to change the very nature of earth and its environment. But, do we take that point into consideration when we use products, which create these gases? We always think it’s the big industries and corporations who are to blame when it comes to environment damage when the harsh reality is that we at a personal level ignore the environmental impact of our usage of products and services which generate these gases.

The Wikipedia describes a carbon-footprint as "the total sets of greenhouse gas emissions caused by an organization, event, product or person." When you drive in your car instead of utilizing public transport services – you are leaving behind a carbon footprint. Do you want to know what your carbon footprint is for the last month or the last year? You can check that here:

http://www.nature.org/greenliving/carboncalculator/

We need to motivate ourselves to make the small changes to our lives, which can make a big difference to the environment. Reducing our personal carbon footprints will go a long way in ensuring that we live in a safe and clean environment that is capable of sustaining life for a long time to come.

Think green!

Carpooling – The Good, the Bad and the Environment

Fuel prices have been stable for the past couple of weeks, but this trend is not going to continue nor is it going to go backward (wishful thinking). Some newspapers have already carried the news that we should be prepared for a substantial hike in fuel prices once the election season is over. The lull in price fluctuation was enforced by the Election Commission of India and comes under its code of conduct, which was lifted last week.

When faced with news, especially bleak news – there are two ways a person can go about dealing with it. Accept it or take steps for change. In this scenario, we can either accept that fuel prices will keep on rising. After all, that’s how it’s always played in the past OR we can take concrete alternative steps to counter it. The rise in fuel prices is just one of the many reasons why we should start looking at ways to share our daily commute. Look at it this way, more people in one automobile = less number of cars on the road = less chances of a traffic jam happening. More people reaching on time to their destinations is just one of the many positive outcomes arising out of this practice.

What’s stopping us from making group commuting a habit? Not only are we saving money, resources and time – we are making sure we leave a small carbon footprint in our country (more on carbon footprints here: http://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx).

The only challenge I can see can come in the form of organizing everyone’s time and habits when heading out together in a single vehicle – but technology can help us here with many online services coming out to help us in this regard. One of the more helpful ones is - http://www.carpooling.in/

Here at Hero BPO, we have a culture of our employees travelling to and fro from work and home in company cabs – highlighting our commitment to group comminuting. People living in the same neighborhood travel together saving costs and thus helping leave a leaner carbon footprint.

“We're in a giant car heading towards a brick wall and everyones arguing over where they're going to sit” ― David Suzuki

Get ready to take the plunge!

Work has invaded our personal lives and balancing the demands of a busy lifestyle is not an easy thing to do. A culture of ‘all work and no play’ causes high stress levels and cuts time spent with loved ones and creates an inability to switch off from work. But in the hustle bustle of everyday life, it is best managed if we take a break sometimes.  

When we take a break, we're not shirking responsibility; we're taking care of ourselves so that we will have the stamina to be our best. 

Image Courtesy: http://bit.ly/TuFpwO

The amount of stress that one undergoes does take a toll on our lives, mentally as well as physically. A holiday with your friends & family helps in relieving this stress and leaves us feeling rejuvenated. Another alarming fact that is raising concern is how the time we spend with our family is reducing. I, for one, do not get to spend as much quality time as I would like to, with my family. My family helps me stay grounded and the little while that I get to spend with them is priceless. So I do make it a point to take at least one with the family, if not two, in a year.

There are so many people who say, “I don’t need a holiday. My official trips are more than enough for me to relax.” Moreover, it’s the time factor that really hits us at times, and we feel like we cannot, under any circumstances, take an off from work. What we tend to forget is that we are entitled to a certain amount of leaves. The deadlines and heavy work load makes us oblivious to the break we deserve.

Many issues that we face at home as well as in office are due to the kind of hectic lifestyles we lead.

The famous saying “All work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy”, should ideally be incorporated in all our lives. Our performance at work is, in many ways, related to the kind of lives we live. The more we strain ourselves at work, the less productive we will be. There’s a right amount of balance between work and personal life that needs to be maintained.

The simplicity of life away from the city madness is something that we all need to experience in life. Getting back to our roots is another way of rediscovering ourselves. The more time we spend swamped in work, the less we learn about ourselves.