657 Trees

Through surveys conducted as part of our Framework 220 initiative, staff members have expressed a desire for “green” programs to conserve natural resources. There is some low hanging fruit in this regard to carefully consider—namely, printing.

Our Papercut printing system estimates that 657 trees were harvested to provide Barrington 220 with enough paper to feed our building-based printers during this past calendar year. Papercut also estimates that 153,275 pounds of carbon dioxide (a primary greenhouse gas) was produced throughout the production of that paper. Further, the energy required to do so is the equivalent of running a standard light bulb for well over 4 million hours.

Our printer usage dropped considerably during the height of the pandemic. Daily printing totals have trended upwards since our days of remote learning.

Framework 220 has a “Stewardship” component related to this topic, not just from a green environment perspective, but from a monetary perspective. Just as the price of eggs has recently soared, so has the cost of a ream of paper, which is now over twice the price that we were paying just a short time ago.

I urge our staff members to think twice before printing. Consider working with your peers at your building or department level to brainstorm and find ways to use technology to offset the need for printing. Our staff and students have devices, apps, and services that provide a rich set of creativity, communication, and collaboration tools. Are there new possibilities to preclude printing pages? Our Instructional Technology staff also has many ideas on how to move toward a less-paper-heavy environment with the use of technology. If you are interested, please reach out to your building LTA staff.