Whether you're a truck driver, office worker, janitor, daycare provider, teacher, carpenter, CEO, farmer, engineer or concerned parent, you do have the power to help solve the climate crisis through making changes in your job and at your workplace.

Finding the savings takes a little creativity and true, American out-of-the-box thinking and innovation, but the rewards are huge -- both the impact on the climate and the sense of accomplishment you'll have.

So, what does a Climate P.I. do to hunt down energy savings and climate-friendly solutions?

  • Look around... all around! Up, down, left, right and sideways. Keep your eyes and ears open for common-sense ways to make small changes every day that add up to a big impact, especially when others notice your ideas and join in. Lighting, computers, copiers, air conditioners, heaters, fans, appliances, equipment, doors, windows, and vents - everything that uses energy or keeps it in or out is an opportunity to save. For example, if you work in a retail shop, you could close the door in the summer while the air conditioning is on rather than cooling the street outside.
  • Rethink the obvious. Consider the materials you're using, where they come from, how they're procured, energy usage in manufacturing processes, task and process order, waste generation -- the whole start-to-finish effort -- and then take action. Can you use raw materials that require less process energy? Can you optimize component layout to reduce the size of energy-intensive packaging materials? Can you provide and schedule services to cut down on the miles and hours a truck has to drive?
  • Repurpose waste. Can waste and scrap be used for something in your business or someone else's? Could you even turn it into a net contributor to profits? For example, when a steel company got together with a cement plant they developed a new process that turns steel slag that once sold for $3 to $8 per ton into a valuable feedstock for $70 per ton cement with significantly fewer CO2 emissions and 15% less energy use. Thinking creatively about who could benefit from discarded material, scrap and waste, is the key to efficiency and potentially cash.
  • Talk and share. Hold a town meeting or company gathering where people tell one another about their jobs. Someone may have a friend who knows of a different way of approaching a task that solves a bottleneck or generates incremental business. One of your colleagues may know of a great video conferencing service that will save the company money and reduce climate change impacts of air travel. Start an electronic bulletin board where ideas can be posted. When you're a Climate P.I., networking takes on a whole new dimension.
  • Be an everyday hero. Think about how your actions, suggestions and attitude influence dozens (or hundreds) of people just like you every single day. What if, each day, a few of them saw your concern about the climate crisis in action and were inspired to change their approach, take action themselves, or think more about the issue? By being a role model and key influencer in everything you do, day in and day out, in actions large and small, you're creating a climate-aware culture that can't help but spread

You don't need to be on C.S.I. to be an effective Climate P.I. It's up to you to hunt down the energy wasters and change the scene.