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Sophie Bergeron is one of hundreds of Bell employees helping to reduce global warming through personal action and awareness gained from her participation in Everyday Kyoto.
Putting the brakes on greenhouse gases
Climate change isn't a problem confined to car drivers and large industrial polluters. It's a problem we all share; one whose solution is largely in our hands. Combating climate change is about taking personal responsibility and changing behaviour.
That insight led Bell to launch Everyday Kyoto, a program designed to make it personal - identifying 23 actions we can take every day to reduce global warming. While the program is entirely voluntary, participating employees sign a pledge of their environmental commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by one tonne during the year through personal action. Action such as increasing the use of teleconferencing to reduce travel. In 2005, our employees conducted almost 300,000 teleconferences which we estimate saved 205,219 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions (CO2e) - equivalent to 71% of the total emitted by Bell last year.
It is one of several communications solutions Bell provides to minimize travel and help stem climate change. We continue to advocate sustainable technologies to all our customers, as well as through our participation in the Climate Change working group of the international Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GESI). And, in 2006, Bell established a new policy and key objective to reduce our own greenhouse gases by 15% by 2012.
This is all welcome news to Sophie Bergeron, a Contract Administrator with Bell Distribution Inc., who takes global warming personally. In support of Everyday Kyoto, Sophie started to use real cutlery and dishware at lunch instead of plastic. She also began shutting off her computer, lights and radio at day's end. "Small efforts over the long term add up," says Sophie, whose passion for the environment also led her to switch to a more fuel-efficient car. "It's important to take action where we all can."
