GoFaxer Blog

Now that we’re well into the new century, it’s easy to look back on the past hundred years with a little bit of clarity. If I could define the 20th century I would say that it was a time of acquiring stuff. The western world was building up its infrastructure. But I think the challenge of the 21st century will be learning to do without.

Now that we have learned how to store and access information digitally, there isn’t as much need for bulky machinery and tools.

We don’t need a big television set. We need a thin screen on the wall that takes up almost no room.

We don’t need a filing cabinet. We just need a computer with lots of hard drive space.

We don’t need a fax machine. We just need a fax to email account.

We’re seeing this paradigm shift affecting everything both pragmatically and aesthetically.

Suddenly it makes sense to be environmentally friendly because we’re realizing as a collective society that having more stuff isn’t necessarily better. If anything it makes our lives feel cluttered. And in the case of the environment, more stuff is making us sick.

We’re seeing architecturally that everything is being designed to make maximum use of space. We don’t have to have a big house. We just need a house that feels big through good design.

The old adage is ringing true. Less is better.

Many business owners understand the need to “go green.” It used to be that conservation was seen as an obstacle to keeping your business costs low. But these days, many business owners understand that green can symbolize trees and cash.

Simply put, being Energy Star certified as a business can save you money. Why? Because energy costs money. The more that you can use energy efficiently, the more money you can save.

I think that the digital revolution helped facilitate this practical worldview. As many business starting extricating paper from their premises, they realized that there was major money to be saved from saving the trees. This was furthered by the development of systems like fax to email and other web based services.

Then they changed their light bulbs to more energy efficient light bulbs. Suddenly electricity costs went down dramatically. Now we have businesses that are making major conversions, investing in solar power and other energy efficient models.

With all three major candidates for president totally committed to higher environmental standards, many large business leaders see the writing on the wall. If they don’t upgrade their systems to more efficient ones now, they will likely be forced to by government mandate. So it makes sense when investing in new equipment to make the more environmentally friendly move now.

So I guess it’s time to go green.