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Dial to calculate your
carbon footprint
The Jan. 14 issue of Business
Week described how the European Commission has created a way for you to
personally calculate your carbon footprint from your own cell phone. If
you have cell phone Internet access, simply download the free program
from mobgas.jrc.it and voilà—you can record
everything from driving time to television use right in your mobile phone.
Available in more than 20 languages, the mobGAS software calculates the
amount of greenhouse gas your activities create, uploads the data and
compares your footprint with national and international averages.
How to be happy on the job
The Jan. 28 edition of The
Christian Science Monitor online discussed seven factors that contribute to an employee's
happiness on the job. While you may think that a good salary and nice
benefits made the list, think again. Appreciation ranks number one on
the list, followed by respect, trust, individual growth, a good boss,
compatible coworkers and a sense of purpose. Employees want to feel
respected and valued, have room to learn and be surrounded by people
who play positive roles in their happiness and growth. It involves two
primary elements—the individual and the
institution—both of
which contribute to the overall happiness of an employee's work
environment.
Making friends and money
at the same time
From Facebook to MySpace, social networking sites have recently become
very popular. Valued at nearly US$11 billion, Facebook already has 50
million members. But what if you could join a social networking site
and make money at the same time? According to a December 2007 report
for BBC News,
you can.
Believe it or not, American site Yuwie.com is actually paying their
members. Join the site for free, network, connect with friends and
Yuwie.com will pay you a portion of the site's advertising revenue.
More than 340,000 members are registered already. However, some are
wondering whether or not this will become a "non-reputable business
model"—making it easy for people to manipulate the site to
inflate the number of page views and abuse the system.
Do you drink diet?
When you go to the supermarket or a restaurant, do you buy diet soda?
Chances are many of you do. Now published in the American Psychological
Association's Behavioral Neuroscience Journal, artificial sweeteners
could be linked to obesity. According to a Feb. 11 article for Canada's Globe and Mail,
you may want
to rethink your soft drink of choice. Recent studies at Purdue
University have shown that rats that are fed food with zero-calorie
sweeteners tend to eat more and gain more weight than rats that eat
foods containing sugar. Even more, research for the Framingham Heart
Study found that people who consume one or more cans of soda daily were
more than 45 percent more likely to have health problems, including
obesity.
Taking advantage of the
off button
In today's technology age, it's hard to imagine not having your mobile
phone in your pocket at all times. For many of us, the cell phone even
sits on the bedside table at night. But what if your boss created rules
against using your business phone during personal time? A Feb. 1
article for United
Press International described how the Canadian immigration agency in Ottawa did just that.
New department rules include turning Blackberry phones off from 7 p.m.
through 7 a.m. Other rules include meeting times—they must
start
and end on time without interfering with employee lunch hour. These new
office regulations are meant to reduce stress, allowing employees to
manage personal and work responsibilities simultaneously.
Job-seekers aren't seeking
Recent results from a Yahoo Hotjobs survey showed that many people who
want a new job aren't even looking for one. According to the Jan. 31
issue of USA Today,
more than
35 percent of survey respondents find it difficult to prove oneself to
a new employer. More than 25 percent are procrastinating, 27 percent
are happy with the work-life balance, others don't want to disappoint
their employers and to some the commute is too nice to give up.
What's keeping you from going for your dream job? Visit IFMA's JOBnet
at http://JOBnet.ifma.org to browse hundreds of facility management job openings!
Greening trash
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, each American
creates more than 4.5 pounds of solid waste every day on average. Waste
Management is trying to alleviate this landfill overload. A Feb. 1
article for CNNMoney.com explained the various initiatives Waste Management is implementing to
live up to their motto—"Think Green." The company's 350-acre
landfill in Pompano Beach, Fla., allows up to 700 dump trucks to visit
every day. After a truck unloads its trash, the waste is quickly
covered with dirt. Vertical pipes sink into the landfill extracting
methane from the ground then burn the gas to make electricity. Among
Waste Management's other initiatives are waste-to-energy plants that
burn garbage at more than 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit creating energy. In
addition, there are recycling centers where paper products, glass,
plastic and metal are sorted, bundled and recycled. More than 165 Waste
Management recycling facilities are currently in operation.
Sound device to keep
teenagers away
For schools, shops and other public places, it can sometimes be the
case that teenagers congregate outside the building. To keep this under
control, Compound Security Systems developed the Mosquito to keep
people from gathering in groups. According to a Feb. 12 article for
U.K.'s Times Online,
the
Mosquito has caused quite a stir and Children's Commissioner for
England Sir Albert Aynsley-Green is campaigning against the product.
Although 75 percent of sales have been to law enforcement and
authorities, many consider this 17-18 kilohertz pulse device to be
discriminatory, as only those younger than or in their twenties can
hear the sound through small hairs in their inner ears. Some consider
the Mosquito to be a quick fix, only solving the problem temporarily;
others see no harm in the product, saying it is both legal and harmless.
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