Winning Elysian Energy’s Green Competition

Author: Sunita Pathik, Team EcoLocos

The week of Earth Day was Elysian Energy’s “Green Week”. To celebrate Earth Day and our company’s commitment to the environment we split up into 5 different teams to compete. Throughout the week we worked to gain points in the categories of energy & water, trash, food, and creative. It was an exciting week of teamwork, environmental awareness, and a good dose of competitive spirit! My team, Ecolocos, was by far the best team in the company.

Energy & Water

Throughout the week our team walked to work, took public transportation and carpooled to save gas. We tracked our carbon footprint using the Earthday Footprint Calculator, signed up for wegowise, and tracked our shower time in an effort to track and reduce our energy and water consumption. We even signed up our friends for Quick Home Energy Check-ups! It was especially fun to see who could take the shortest shower (2 minutes and 57 seconds was our shortest!)

Trash

In order to reduce our waste for the week team Ecolocos went shopping with reusable grocery bags, used reusable containers to buy bulk food, and tracked and saved all of our waste we generated while eating out for the week. This meant that we were super aware of every paper napkin or Styrofoam container we used while eating out. I made sure to bring my own take-home containers when I thought I would have leftovers and everywhere I went I made sure to ask for no straw in my drink! We also signed up for Paperkarma so we could start reducing the junk mail that we get.

Food

Monday was meatless for Elysian employees participating in our green competition. This was an easy one for me, as I generally don’t eat meat. A bit harder was Vegan Vednesday, where I used almond milk in my cereal and ate my pasta and veggies without any cheese. This week our team also recorded a cooking show using only local and organic ingredients, which involved a strange character named “Pasta Luigi”. We made sure to have fun while being sustainable!

Creative

EcoLocos’ Green Week Team Mascot

For the last category we used all of our creative energy to put together an exciting video on turning off the lights and created a team mascot. Meet the crazy and sustainable mascot for team Ecolocos! She is made out of only materials we found in the trash and recycling bins, and will be hanging around our office to remind us to incorporate some of the sustainable practices from the week in our everyday lives!