Today is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, and this is a great time to think about how you can contribute in making the earth a better place for everyone to live. As a Technical Writer, I have seen my share of wastefulness when it comes to the amounts of paper people use in the office. Usually, the documents that were printed out could have been viewed on the person’s computer, or one could have been shared by all by using a projector.
If your clients are pushing for hardcopy user manuals, try to get them to see that they can put a link on their site and have an online, searchable user manual. If the user wants to, he/she can export it. Yes, I know. Users will print it out, so that defeats the purpose. Not really. Instead of printing out a user manual for each user, and then having the majority of them just have it collecting dust on their desk. Why not give them the option of searching for the answer online? This will usually reduce the amounts of people who print an actual hard copy.
After you write a document, you might also run into people who want to print it out to do their editing. I’m not going to lie, I used to be one of those people. However, I have started using track changes on my documents, and I am encouraging others to do the same. You can also push for online collaboration tools, such as Google Docs and Evernote. It’s actually worked! More and more people are doing the editing without printing out paper.
If I do have to print something out because it’s easier to edit it on actual paper, I try to print on both sides. This is especially useful if I am printing out a 100-page or more document (yes, I have written some of those). What do I do when I am done with the document? I recycle it. If there is sensitive data on it, then shred it before recycling it.
There are many ways that we can reduce our carbon footprint. The great thing about a Technical Writer is that we can also encourage others to do the same.
HAPPY EARTH DAY, Earthlings!
Tags: Earth Day, earth day 2010, technical writer earth day
