FLEX MATTERS—The Oil Leak and Our Responsibility

June 2, 2010

I had a thought provoking conversation today with Joe Laur of Greenopolis.  We were talking about the BP oil debacle and the link between environmental catastrophes like the Gulf leak and our nation’s addiction to oil.  Joe had an interesting post about this recently at the Greenopolis site called Petroleum Saved the Whales… Now what will save us from petroleum?

In our discussion, what struck me most was when Joe quoted Abraham Heschel, a Jewish philosopher and theologian who said, “Few are guilty, but all are responsible.”  While there is finger pointing left and right at BP and many others in regard to direct culpability, and liability,  Joe-- being the environmental advocate he is--said that the vast pool of oil now dispersing across the Gulf was, for him,  a very real symbol of our collective responsibility.  It is all of us, he said, who helped to create the demand for the oil that is now so very visibly decimating the environment. 

Greenopolis is a site dedicated to promoting ways that individuals can make small but meaningful decisions to reduce their own environmental impact.  So how could simple steps like employers increasing flex work options help us reduce demand for oil?

A study released in 2008 by Sun Microsystems and quoted by CNN, for example, suggests that “the real climate killer in office life is the employee's daily commute. It concluded that as much as 98 percent of Sun's own employees' work-related carbon footprints were generated before they even reached the office! “

In 2009 the World Wildlife Fund produced a report called From Workplace to Anyplace in which they noted that “Two of the most interesting and innovative climate solutions that can contribute to a higher quality of life and decreased ecological footprint are virtual meetings and telecommuting. And they concluded that increasing these strategies today could "help to save more than 3 billion tons of CO₂ emissions in a few decades; which is equivalent to half of the current US CO₂ emissions."

There is clearly, a lot of blame to go around for the BP oil spill, but perhaps we should also look at the vulnerable wetlands, the species of water life impacted and the communities, whole industries and local businesses that will be dealing with this oil leak for years to come and ask ourselves not only who is guilty, but what responsibility we each bear. How do our every day decisions as workers and businesses create the kinds of conditions we’re seeing played out on our television screens—as well as those impacts we can’t yet as readily see like global warming?  

In light of the scale of this current disaster how many commutes and business trips could you or your business readily forgo?   Is all of the traveling we do really worth the kind of damage we've been witnessing this past month?  How much would doing the responsible thing in our own organizations and making relatively painless and simple decisions save us individually and collectively in money, resources and time?   Would doing so also help us to mitigate our guilt by association?