Prompted by the health concerns of employees during the current coronavirus pandemic, the work patterns of most of the people see a drastic change as they are to work from home. Nevertheless, this change in our daily reality does not stop us from getting together to learn and share theories and best practices on greening our workplace. The Green PolyU Awards – Green Office programme has therefore brought its activities into the virtual world and held its first online webinar in February 2020.
Making good use of technology, the University’s departmental Green Officers gathered and got connected online in a webinar to examine issues around green procurement and sustainable consumption. Led by the speaker Ir. C. F. Leung of Business Environment Council, the participating Green Officers were invited to review their consumption habits and consider ways to adhere to green procurement principles. Mr. Leung examined why sustainable consumption was so important to us. He made a detailed illustration of where and how we should purchase sustainable products and services. He highlighted that we should purchase from agents or sources which are biodiversity-friendly, environmentally-friendly, socially responsible, or from social enterprises. He also cited examples and practices from PolyU’s current Green Procurement Policy.
Participants were encouraged to reflect on their procurement habits and purchase decisions both at work and at home. A lot of us tend to make decisions promptly with quality and financial considerations. That’s not the whole picture. We should also take into consideration sustainability performance as well, for instance, if the products we get contain high recycled content, constitute greater durability and efficiency, and carry less packaging. And the real sustainable consumption principle tells more than buying more sustainable products – it also touches on the way of living and a change in our consumption practices. Consumption should be made to meet what we really need and not to meet our wants. We should bear in mind if we keep buying and consuming without a deeper awareness and care about the environment, there will come a day when the earth can no longer provide us with the resources necessary to fulfill our unlimited wants.
