Saving the environment they say

Lately, one group of people jumped into the save-the-environment bandwagon and are now actively taking measures to ‘save the environment’. Do you know who are they? No, I am not referring to the bunch of people who gather at Sunway or Pavilion to freeze for a few minutes and believed they have done something good for the earth. I am referring to the corporate players a.k.a. modern slaves masters.

Yes, a lot of big companies are currently actively engaging in environment saving initiative. From the initial look, one would think that they are indeed doing something noble.

Are they?

Well, perhaps we should take a look at the things that big corporations are doing in their so-called ‘save-the-environment’ exercise…

One of the very first things that corporations will do in their environment campaign is to ask their staff to use less paper. Try not to print your mails or your documents, read them from the computer. If you screw up your eyes, it’s perfectly fine; at least you save some trees. And if you really have to print, make sure you print them double-sided.

Next is the famous ‘bring-your-own-mug’ initiative. A lot of corporations are going to stop providing paper or styro-foam cups in their pantries. Styro-foam is of course very hazardous to the environment as it is a non-biodegradable substance while usage of paper cups will of course results in less trees on earth. So, they ask their staff to bring their own mugs to make drinks in office.

Reduction in usage of electricity is also a good remedy in saving the environment and naturally, these corporations have also made the necessary steps in trying to ‘play-their-part’. How if you may ask? Nope… it’s not by turning off the lights after office hour… it’s not by asking staff to shut the computer down after office hour… they are saving electricity by shutting down the……… air-conditioning after office hour.

There are many other things that corporations are doing in their own version of ‘save-the-environment’ campaign. Some are pretty ridiculous and they are always within the ambit of ‘reduce this’, ‘less of that’, ‘stop this’ and ‘stop that’.

I know I am being a cynic but from all the things these corporations have done, I think they are doing it only because it helps in cost reduction. To me, saving the environment is purely secondary. I mean, if they really want to protect the environment, there are a host of other things to do but it will involve huge investment.

One of which is to use recycled paper. This is more effective than asking staff not to print stuff. But then again, recycled paper is expensive so, do you think corporations will do it?

Why only shut down the air-conditioning? Shut down the entire office after say… 7pm, I am sure that will save A LOT of electricity. But that would mean people will not be able to work and business will be affected. Do you think corporations will do it?

The other day at lunch, one of my colleagues made a statement… “If not because it saves them money, I don’t think they give a damn’.
He was absolutely right.