Torbjorn's Blog

Starting this month, IKEA will only sell and serve certified coffee at all its stores and offices globally. To ensure that all coffee sold and served at IKEA is produced under socially and environmentally responsible conditions, IKEA has decided to strictly use UTZ Certified coffee. UTZ Certified is an independent not-for-profit organization that sets a standard for responsible coffee growing and

Some CEO's believe they can define the corporate culture of their company - we argue that they can't.
The reason for this is that corporate culture - like any other type of culture is a product of behaviors, norms, values, history and leadership style. If you want to develop a certain corporate culture it doesn't help you writing it down in a powerpoint presentation - you have to live it out.

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Ah May: the leaves are opening, flowers blooming, your eyes are a watery haze and your nose is running like a faucet. Allergy season is here!

In its Spring edition, Allergic Living magazine looks at the hidden toll of spring allergies and finds a lot more than cases of the sniffles. In fact, there is widespread "presenteeism" on the job - in which allergic employees show up but are too irritable, congested and sleep-deprived to do a proper day's work. And the costs? One study puts it at a staggering $593 per employee a year - ahead of high stress.

Speaking of stress, Allergic Living for Spring also reveals the growing level of anxiety among children with food allergies. The problem, according to experts, starts with well-meaning parents who talk too openly with young children about the risk of death from anaphylaxis. Rather than preparing their children to manage the condition, the kids become scared, and by school age are mistrustful and anxious.

For excerpts from the issue, see www.allergicliving.com

 

Elected officials, environmental organizations as well as ordinary Canadians of all political backgrounds should take note of the lifetime achievements of recently-deceased U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson, the founder of Earth Day. Nelson's work prompted the head of the Washington-based Wilderness Society to describe Nelson as "the founding father of the modern environmental community". Earth Day,

To understand carbon offsetting, one must first have at least a general understanding of carbon emissions, also commonly known as "greenhouse gases".

These are atmospheric components-like carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane gas-that contribute to the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is responsible for the warming of the atmosphere that, in respectable levels, makes our atmosphere

TD Canada Trust is increasing the cash rebate on its Green Mortgage and Green Home Equity Line of Credit for qualified purchasers who apply between April 25th to July 31st, 2008.

Customers will continue to receive 1% off the posted interest rate on a
five-year fixed rate mortgage or on a five-year fixed rate portion of a Home
Equity Line of Credit AND will now receive a cash rebate up to 1.5% (up

 

Sometimes what you're looking for is right under your nose.

Go to Findmore.ca to find great stuff that's right in your neighborhood .

Or post your own local classified ad for

A Leger Marketing poll* announced today found that Canadians are printing and wasting more paper than ever before - and feeling guilty about it. The survey, issued at the You, Me and Green conference on Green IT, reveals there is a clear need in Canada for environmentally responsible solutions that help save paper while enabling Canadian businesses to remain productive and secure.

Paper abuse and office use

Poll results show that while the average working Canadian prints 30 pages of documents every day, nearly four out of 10 pages are tossed - accounting for a staggering 10 pages of wasted paper every day by the average Canadian. Additionally, two out of five Canadians say they are printing more documents than they were five years ago.

Despite the fact that Canadian workers create so much paper waste, the survey shows that the majority of employees (77 per cent) across the country are concerned about their impact on the environment, and over one quarter (27 per cent) want to be environmentally conscious. But they don't know where to start.

TELUS Secure Contracts - The digital road to recovery

Increasingly, companies in the Canada and the U.S. are embracing digital signature and electronic agreement technology, one of the most cost effective and environmentally responsible means of simplifying and safeguarding day-to-day business processes. In fact, results showed that nearly one in two Canadians (49 per cent) would use digitally secured documentation in order to reduce paper wastage, and that 42 per cent already handle as many documents as they can electronically, to do their part to protect the environment.

TELUS Secure Contracts powered by Recombo helps make doing business more efficient with a secure, accurate and auditable legal digital signature solution that converts traditional, static documents into Web-based, interactive interfaces.

TELUS Secure Contracts is convenient for business, reduces courier and administration costs and is a significant step toward reducing paper waste that is associated with paper-based documentation.

To improve customer convenience, it reduces data entry by integrating with customer relationship management or back office systems, and automatically extracts critical data from contracts. It prevents incomplete documents with configurable form fields, allows complete visibility into agreement status (read/viewed/signed) and contract data, and provides a Web-based self-service portal for clients to complete and sign forms and documents.

Green is good for business

While 61 per cent of respondents polled believe being green is good for business and over half (51 per cent) believe their company should incorporate more office practices to limit their impact on the environment, only 16 per cent say that they have a full blown paper management policy to follow in the office.

TELUS' unyielding commitment to the environment has lead us to be the only North American fixed telecom on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index as one of world's top economic, environmental and social performers. Following on our commitment to reduce waste and improve the environment, through Tree Canada we funded the planting of one tree for every cell phone recycled in 2007. This, in conjunction with online billing and other initiatives, resulted in the planting of more than 50,000 trees last year. Additionally, during the 2007 TELUS Day of Service, more than 6,000 TELUS team members, retirees and family members took part in numerous environmental projects nationally.

In October 2007, TELUS House, which is designed to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) "silver" requirements from the Canada Green Building Council, is one of the most environmentally friendly buildings in Ottawa, was opened. LEED is an internationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high-performance sustainable buildings.

 

Tip # 1: Get on your bike!
For every kilometer you ride your bike instead of driving a car, you avoid the production of about one kilo of carbon dioxide.

Tip # 2: Save water with powder detergents
Switch from liquid detergents to powders. Laundry liquids are mostly water (approx. 80%). It costs energy and packaging to bring this water to the consumer.

Tip # 3: Save a tree, or two, or three
Get

    You hope so, but many contain ingredients you don't usually want anywhere near your personal affairs. Try the following to keep your clothes - not to mention your eco-reputation - as clean as a whistle.

Bleach

• Ecover Bleach - make your whites even brighter with this nonchlorine bleach ($5/14 oz).

Detergent

• Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day Laundry Detergent - liquid that really works. Comes in five