MG Siegler:

Think about how weird it is to print something out in this day and age. Not only do we all have phones that can display any document without the need to waste paper, there are now millions upon millions of tablets even more capable of doing this. And soon, flexible displays.

Are we afraid of forgeries? Wouldn’t that be just as easy to do on a printed item — perhaps even easier, in some regard? Do we need receipts? Aren’t those a million times better in digital form? Term papers? Email them in.

We go through a ton of paper at the office — accounting firms must singlehandedly be responsible for the dying tree population in northern B.C.

When I started at the firm, I had a smidge of guilt everytime I pressed the print button. As time passed though, I felt less and less guilty about my paper consumption. I fell into the habit of printing all source documents before filing them in a physical folder.

Then, two weeks ago, my boss asked me to write a report on the different cloud storage options. The ability to store all types of client files in the cloud would make our office more efficient and more accessible. Coupled with a Fujitsu scanner for source documents, cloud storage is the way of the accounting future.

I learned many new things about Dropbox and I discovered that Google Drive is actually better than Dropbox in many ways. I believe in Dropbox, personally, but Google Drive is a fantastic product.

After my report, the wierdest thing happened: I began to feel the rush of guilt swoop back whenever I pressed the print button. I've retracted my tree decimation. I still print a lot, but I know the mindset is changing.

And that's all it takes. The mindset to not harm the environment is where saving the environment all begins.