Take the Stairs at Work

Every Monday in our Eco Memo series, we offer you practical tips on how to green your work life. This week we have a simple tip that makes your work life greener and your body healthier.

More often that not, what's good for the body is also good for the environment. Every morning, I take the stairs up to my office. Granted, I only work on the second floor, but there is an elevator available. The more energy I expend, the more my office can conserve.

If you work in an office where an elevator's available, but you work on, say, the third floor, take the stairs up. If you work on the tenth or below, you should have no problem taking the stairs on your way down. It's a mini-workout, of course, but you?re also helping, ever so slightly, to lower how much electricity your building uses, and the more you do it, the more you help.

And you don't have to wait around forever for the elevator either. Health nuts who work higher than the tenth floor?I'm not gonna push you. Do whatever feels comfortable, and if nothing else, you can climb up or down a few floors, and then take the elevator the rest of the way. Who knows who you'll meet on the stairs?