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GREEN GUIDELINES
Th e M a s s ac h u s e t t s Ba r A s s oc i at i o n h a s c r e ate d t h e s e GREEN GUIDELINES to a s s i s t l aw ye r s to:

A ssess current environmental practices.

C ommit to adopting more sustainable practices.
Tread more lightly on the Earth.
Sustainable practices are defined as using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged.

The MBA Energy and Environment Task Force recognizes that each lawyers ability to implement these MBA GREEN GUIDELINES may depend on a number of factors.
Some may have a greater ability to implement these guidelines than others and some may be able to institute measures that go far beyond the scope of the MBA GREEN
GUIDELINES. We encourage everyone to use their BEST EFFORTS to implement the MBA GREEN GUIDELINES to the extent reasonably feasible and make them your own.
Inspiring and educating yourself and others will ensure environmentally sustainable practices. Thank you for your participation. Together, we will make a difference.

ECO - CHALLENGE PARTNER S:

q Designate one person in your organization as the environmental liaison.

w Adopt and implement the MBA GREEN GUIDELINES . Make them your sustainability policy or customize them
to your practice.

e Educate co-workers about the policy and integrate it into new employee training. Educate attorneys with whom
you share office space about these MBA GREEN GUIDELINES .

r Implement a check system that regularly monitors this policy.

t Encourage your landlord to review his or her sustainable practices.
y Renew your pledge and commitment at the beginning of each year with the MBA.
As an Ec o - C h a l l e n g e Pa r t n e r , action is needed in the following areas:
Energy conservation
Paper reduction
Recycling
Greenhouse gas reduction
Environmentally conscious purchases
Sustainable practices
Education
Support for environmental conservation

Visit MassBar.org/ecochallenge for more information.

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MBA Green Guidelines

q ENERG Y CONSERVATION
LIGHTS

Turn off the lights when you leave.

If you have cleaning staff, verify that they will turn off the lights when they leave your office.
Install motion detectors if you cannot verify the lights are being turned off.

Substitute inefficient, older light bulbs with compact fluorescent light (CFL) or Light Emitting Diode (LED) bulbs.

The CFL bulb needs 60 percent less energy than a conventional light bulb.
The LED bulb lasts up to 60,000 hours and can use as little as two watts of energy.

Replace old, inefficient light fixtures.

Why Ta ke Ac t i o n?
According to Energy Star, if every American home replaced just one light bulb with an Energy Star-qualified bulb, we
would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year and more than $600 million in annual energy
costs. This would prevent greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those of more than 800,000 cars.

Wh e r e To Bu y
CFLs can be purchased at any local hardware or home improvement store. Visit EnergyFederation.org for more information.

COMPUTER S
Mandate the use of screen savers for computers.

Require attorneys and staff to turn off computers after work and when idle for more than 30 minutes.

Why Ta ke Ac t i o n?
Businesses spend $1.7 billion in energy costs and cause 14.4 million tons of CO2 emissions from computers left on after work,
according to a PC Energy Awareness Report.

COP Y M ACHINES
Ensure shared copy machines and printers are put in standby mode when not in use or turned off at the end of

each day.

L ANDLORDS
If utility costs are included in your lease, work with your landlord to save energy and maximize building systems

performance. For example, encourage your landlord to install compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs).

Encourage your landlord to review their sustainable practices.

Network and encourage co-tenants in your building to get involved in lowering energy costs by also supporting

the Tenant Environmental Request to Landlord, available at MassBar.org/ecochallenge.

Encourage landlord to buy green power. Visit EPA.gov/greenpower.

Contact your local utility to request a free energy audit and educate landlord of results.
Encourage your landlord to install a green roof. Visit GreenRoofs.org.

Promote sustainable building practices used by the U.S. Green Building Council LEED program.

Visit USGBC.org.

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MBA Green Guidelines

ENERG Y CONSERVATION (c o nt.)

THER MOSTAT S
Calibrate thermostats to adjust for seasonal changes. Adjust your thermostat up two degrees in the summer and

down two degrees in the winter.

ME A SURE YOUR PROGRESS

Create a record-keeping system to measure your programs effectiveness. One simple way to do this is to keep

track of your energy bills.

For more information on Energy Conservation,

view the Green Resources at M assBar.org / ecochallenge .

w PAPER REDUC TION

You can reduce your environmental impact substantially by choosing to use 100 percent recycled paper. You will

ensure that no forests were destroyed in the production of that paper. In most cases, you and your copy machine
will not even know the difference.

Ensure your copiers and printers have an automatic duplex option. Encourage use of both sides of the paper on

lengthy documents.

Whenever possible, use Internet court and agency filing procedures.

Electronically route faxes, interoffice memoranda and reports throughout office.

Utilize the Internet to send documents when feasible.

Process documents electronically using the scan option on a copier when appropriate, rather than printing

hard copies.

Refrain from printing e-mails when feasible.

Create note pads from used paper printed on one side.

Print documents in small fonts, with wide margins and reduced spacing.

Use letter-sized paper, files and pouches rather than legal sized items whenever possible.
Keep mailing lists up-to-date so as not to waste paper.
Get off mailing lists. Go to 41pounds.org.

Assess archive inventory to determine whether documents are ripe for recycling.

Encourage sharing of phone and reference books (e.g., dictionaries, statutes) or use of online sources.

Safety Note Always be sure to make computer backups when relying on electronic documents and e-mails.

Why Ta ke Ac t i o n?
Lawyers use 10 times more paper than the average office worker. Specifically, a lawyer will use a ton of paper each year
which equates to approximately 24 trees cut each year per lawyer. There are over 1 million lawyers in the U.S. which
means over 24 million trees are destroyed each year just to meet lawyers demands for paper.

For more information on paper reduction,

view the Green Resources at M assBar.org / ecochallenge .
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MBA Green Guidelines

e REC YCLING

Be an avid recycler. Strive to recycle 100 percent of all paper, cardboard products, bottles, cans, etc.
Install recycling bins at each workstation, copier, fax machine and kitchen/cafeteria.
Provide recycling for bottles and cans.

Provide a procedure for recycling items not accepted in standard recycling, such as Tyvek envelopes, batteries,

plastic bags and computers.

Work with town or city officials to set up a recycling program for small businesses and firms to recycle bottles,

cans, newspapers, cardboard and magazines.

Fo r h e l p o n t h i s s e c t i o n, v i s i t Ea r t h 911.o rg.
Re c yc l i n g M a ke s A D i f fe r e n c e
There are literally hundreds of reasons to recycle. Here are a few:
Recycling helps us reduce our reliance on foreign oil by saving energy. To that end, costly wars over natural resources including oil, minerals and timber have killed millions of people.
Recycling eases the demand for resources. A 30 percent recycling rate would reduce greenhouse gas emissions
comparable to removing approximately 25 million cars from the road. In just one year of recycling, Stanford University saved the
equivalent of 33,913 trees and the demand for 636 tons of iron ore, coal and limestone.
Recycling benefits the air and water by creating a net reduction in 10 major categories of air pollutants and eight major categories of
water pollutants.
Recycling prevents habitat destruction, loss of biodiversity and soil erosion associated with logging and mining.

For more information on recycling,

view the Green Resources at M assBar.org / ecochallenge .

r GREENHOUSE GA S REDUC TION

Th e Pr o b l e m
Human actions such as burning fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) and land clearing are generating more greenhouse gases.
These additional greenhouse gases trap more heat and raise the Earths surface temperature, which causes global warming.
Encourage and utilize public transportation and carpooling.

Encourage reducing the need for business travel by working from home, teleconferencing and other strategies.

Provide a subsidy of at least 50 percent, preferably 100 percent, for using public transportation. This subsidy has

great tax incentives for you and the members of your firm.

Encourage personnel traveling on business to rent fuel-efficient cars.

Avoid providing free parking for any personnel if alternative modes of transportation exist.
Walk often. Join National Walk to Work Day. Go to Walking.About.com.

Provide incentives for bike commuters such as financial, storage space and gym membership support. Participate

in Bike to Work Week. Visit BikeLeague.org/programs/bikemonth.

Purchase a car-sharing membership or set up a ride-share bulletin board.

Purchase a hybrid vehicle.

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MBA Green Guidelines

t ENVIRONMENTALLY CONSCIOUS PURCHA SES

Co n s c i o u s Co n s u m i n g
Before making a purchase, do a quick self-check:
Do I really need this product?
Is the product I need eco-friendly?
Is there another product I can purchase that will use less of the Earths resources?

OFFICE ITEMS
Purchase computers that are rated highly by the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT).

Visit EPEAT.net.

Purchase Energy Star office equipment and appliances and give preference to equipment with an energy-saving

device when replacing equipment. Go to EnergyStar.gov.

Purchase fair trade coffee that is organic and shade grown.

Purchase coffee, sugar, creamer, salt and pepper in bulk rather than in single-servings.

Purchase computer monitors and printers that have an energy efficient standby mode, consuming 90 percent

less energy than regular mode.

Purchase dishwashing liquid, hand soap and automatic dishwashing detergent free of phosphates, triclosan,

chlorine or other antibacterial ingredients.

PAPER
Strive to purchase copy paper that is 100 percent post-consumer recycled content, but at least 30 percent post-

consumer recycled.

Always give preference to products with recycled content whenever available.

Purchase file folders that have a minimum of 30 percent post-consumer recycled content.

Strive to purchase letterhead, envelopes and legal pads with 100 percent post-consumer recycled content, or at

least 30 percent post-consumer recycled.

Purchase small-sized paper towels with 100 percent post-consumer recycled content and that are perforated in

half sizes.

Notify your suppliers that you have adopted these green MBA

GREEN GUIDELINES .

PREFER SUSTAINABLE SERVICE PROVIDER S

Give preference to vendors that use sustainable practices.

Notify suppliers about firms desire to purchase sustainable products.

Encourage the use of lunch caterers that minimize disposables and purchase locally grown organic food.
Encourage hiring event planners who have expertise in sustainable events.
Specify soy-based ink for outsourced printing jobs.

For more information on environmentally conscious purchases,

view the Green Resources at M assBar.org / ecochallenge

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MBA Green Guidelines

y SUSTAINABLE PR AC TICES
Conserve Water
Establish a regular maintenance protocol to check for and repair leaks in sinks and toilets.
Post signs encouraging water conservation at sinks.

ELIMINATE DISPOSABLES
Provide durable plates, cups, glasses and utensils for the kitchen and conference rooms rather than disposable

items.

Provide pitchers with filtered water, rather than bottled water, in conference rooms.

For more information about solid and hazardous waste disposal in Massachusetts, visit the Massachusetts De-

partment of Environmental Protection at Mass.Gov/dep.

REDUCE TOXIC PRODUC T S

Purchase unbleached paper towels and napkins.

Purchase kitchen cleaners with low toxicity and high biodegradability or clean with products such as baking

soda, white vinegar and club soda.

REUSE EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES

Arrange for your supplier to pick up old cartridges for reuse or recycle old ink cartridges.

Create an internal reuse center for supplies such as binders, file folders, large envelopes, etc.
Donate old office equipment, furniture and supplies.

Purchase remanufactured cartridges for laser printers.

For more information on sustainable practices,

view the Green Resources at M assBar.org / ecochallenge .

u EDUC ATION

Educate all employees about the program and recognize their participation.

Invite and promote educational speakers on sustainability to be part of the firm

training.

Read, A Healthy Environment Starts at Home, a guide published by the Massachu-

setts Water Resources Authority. MWRA.state.ma.us/index.html.

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MBA Green Guidelines

i SUPPORT FOR ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION

Implement a workplace giving program that supports environmental nonprofits. Employers should consider

matching employee donations.

Support local environmental organizations.

For more information on environmental conservation,

view the Green Resources at M assBar.org / ecochallenge .

INSPIRE
Although climate change is a serious issue, make these MBA GREEN GUIDELINES a positive
experience for you and the members of your office. Enthusiastic participation will encourage eco-friendly habits. Take these practices with you at home. We encourage you to write
in and tell us your success stories and/or suggestions.

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