Green Team

Like the Mother Earth ship calling me home, I am now on my employer’s Green Team! I had no idea this existed, although I had dreamed about greening up the hospital on a large scale. And now I’m working with co-workers who share my passion for saving our planet…and our office!

The Team’s first mission is to plan a green table display for Education Day. We decided on three sections: 1) What the hospital is already doing; 2) How employees can green their office; and 3) What they can do on your own. I volunteered to head up the second area since I had already implemented a green program for my department.

As I walked back to my office, I bumped into one of my co-workers. She was carrying a paper cup. My eyes got wide. She looked away and said, “I know, I know.”

Then I walked into the kitchen and looked in the trash. Paper! I quickly dove into the trashcan and pulled out what I could. I was caught in the act by another co-worker who flashed a look as if to say “she’s lost it.” Then I stood up and hit my head on the cabinet. This was not looking good.

How could I head up the “green your office” sub-committee if my own efforts were failing? I had already bragged to The Team. I told them how I rewarded those doing green deeds with reusable shopping bags. The Team loved it! And now I was crashing and burning.

I had a vision of The Team making a surprise site visit…a tour of my so-called green office while, in slow motion, my co-workers rolled up clean sheets of paper and threw them away. “Noooo!” I heard myself shouting in a creepy slo-mo voice as I got pelted with paper.

How could this happen?

Just then, I noticed that our box for can recycling was full. Not a complete disaster. And my friend came into the pantry and filled up a ceramic mug with water. She even pointed to her mug and said, “This is because of you, you know.”

I looked around and made sure there was nothing to hit my head on. “Thanks,” I said. “I know, I know.”