According to the United Nations Environmental program, if everyone in the world achieved the standard of living that the majority of Americans enjoy, it would outstrip the ability of the Earth to provide it by three times.

This discrepancy between humanity’s needs, and our planet’s resources is contributing to the rapid depletion of vital resources. In order to preserve the environment for future generations, it is critical that all sectors of society adapt their consumption in order to restore the balance between humanity’s demand, and our planet’s supply—including corporations.

Reducing consumption means optimizing efficiency, which can be a daunting prospect for a corporation, regardless of size. Fortunately, there are tools available that can help businesses lower their environmental impact by eliminating unnecessary consumption and waste.

One such tool is the Sustainability Calculator available through Xerox Office Services (XOS). The calculator evaluates the current office environment of printers, copiers and multifunction devices and then measures environmental benefits that could be achieved in terms of energy and paper use, solid waste, water, air and greenhouse gas emissions.

In this podcast, Patricia Calkins, Vice-President of Environment Health and Safety for Xerox explains how the calculator works and discusses the benefits a business can get from using the calculator’s results.

Listen to the podcast Sustainability Calculator.

Total duration: 9:50 min.
Audio: MP3

About the speaker: Patricia A. Calkins, Xerox’s global vice president of Environment, Health and Safety spends each work day fostering sustainable practices and perfecting her goal of finding what she calls, ‘smarter ways to green’.

You can also read a full transcript of Xerox’s CEO, Anne Mulcahy’s speech “Sustainability: Crisis and Opportunity” (PDF)