Thank you for your interest in OMERI’s business policies and support for environmental causes.

Healing human pain and suffering is a common goal among all massage therapists. Our environmental policies are simply an extension of that goal into broader issues facing people today.

Our goal for the last 15 years has been to reduce OMERI’s environmental impact in as many ways as possible. Below you will read about why we care about these issues and what we are doing about it as a business.

Concerns

We have several concerns about the state of the planet that can be summed up into two main categories:

• Climate Change (carbon output, ecosystem changes, extinctions, desertification, food)
• Ecological health (ecosystems, pollution/toxics, biodiversity, sustainability, health)

Humans are both reliant on a clean, stable environment, as well as contributors to both the problems and solutions regarding our local and global communities.

OMERI’s Environmental Policies and Practices

Paper/Printing

Habitat loss, climate impacts, toxins & water quality, and diversity are all reasons why we address the use of paper in our business.

• All office paper is 100% post-consumer waste, non-chlorine bleached paper.
  • This means that it comes from not just recycled paper (which can still be from virgin timber), but from used newspapers, office paper, etc.
  • It is bleached using biodegradable hydrogen peroxide, not chlorine bleach.
• Toilet paper is 100% post-consumer waste, non-chlorine bleached paper; tissue paper is at least recycled or the above, or bandanas.
• Paper use: we no longer produce a catalog or other paper consumptive products, we rely on our web technology. We are reducing mailers.
• Printing is done on various grades of recycled paper. As much as possible we use the above paper and use a printer who prints with vegetable based inks.
• DVD covers are postconsumer grade cardstock paper rather than plastic.

Carbon Output

We have two main contributions to carbon output: general office energy use and travel. Our recent exposure to climate impacts in Alaska led us to take this issue extremely seriously.

Office energy production

• Electrical plug-in strips are used to reduce phantom energy useage. Each strip is turned off at night.
• Florescent lights are used.
• All office equipment is left off until needed.
• OMERI avoids unnecessary consumption. and unnecessary technology.

Travel

• OMERI’s Online Program
  • See this article by Adobe on green learning.
  • Airline travel is a huge contributor to the human carbon footprint.
  • Whitney also reduces his travel carbon footprint by triangulating trips & using public transportation.
  • Working from home offices eliminates commutes.
• OMERI’s workshops also mean travel and carbon expenditures by each student traveling to come to our courses.
• Whitney reduces his travel carbon footprint by combining trips.

General Environmental Practices

OMERI participates in other standard practices that are common today, such as recycling, turning off lights, lowering the thermostat, walking/biking when possible, lowering consumption and living simply, etc. Other things we do:

• Use non-toxic soaps, creams, household cleansers
• Eat sustainably fished seafoods; almost no meat/dairy; no industrial animal products
• Use/eat organics and supports local farmers
• Contribute time and money to environmental causes
• Write letters and make public comments on causes
• OMERI contributes at least 10% of its profits to important causes

For More Information

Paper

• Facts about Paper: EDF FAQS; New Leaf Paper; Paper Task Force; EPA; Conservatree
• Facts about Tissue Paper: Boreal Forests/Songbirds; Paper Choice Guide;
• Useful Site: PaperCalculator.org; Federal Energy Site

Climate Change

• Facts about Climate Change: EPA; Wikipedia; IPCC Report
• Interesting Articles: Ocean Acidification; Sea Level; Turbines on the Tundra; Impacts Exceed 2007 IPCC Report; Thousands of Walrus Die as Ice Leaves
• Site to Watch: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
• Explore Your Carbon Footprint: CarbonFootprint.com

Thank you for taking the time to read the above. We hope you found this page informative. If you have any questions on any of the above, feel free to contact us.