Almost every night I turn on the news and hear a story about how unhealthy our environment has become. The ice caps are melting, our drinking water is contaminated, and even our air is full of dangerous chemicals and toxins. What kind of world are we leaving for our children?

Rather than just sit by and do nothing my family has decided to start living a greener lifestyle. It's a small start but we hope that by being a good example others will follow our lead and by working together we can really make an impact.

So to help you get the ball rolling I've put together a little list of green living tips you can practice at work. Be a good example for your coworkers and encourage them to do the same.

1. Recycle as much as possible, including paper, glass, and plastic bottles. Make sure you place collection areas wisely. Many people just will not walk across the building to drop off their soda cans and newspapers. But if you can make it easy and convenient for them they'll be more likely to recycle.

2. Another way to recycle is to use refillable ink cartridges in printers and copy machines. As an added bonus, these recyclable cartridges are usually cheaper too.

3. Ditch the styrofoam coffee cups that will be sitting in a landfill for generations. Instead use a coffee mug that can be washed and used over and over again.

4. Use email whenever possible and don't print out every email you get. That defeats the whole purpose!

5. Re-use printer paper for scrap rather than tossing it in the trash.

6. Replace lights with more energy efficient bulbs and encourage everyone to use power saving modes on their computers.

If you're an office manager or employer you can implement these suggestions right off the bat. Otherwise you can try going to your boss and start making suggestions. Try to emphasize the financial savings the company could see and they may be more open-minded. These simple green living tips may seem insignificant by themselves but if we all make minor adjustments to our daily routine we can have a huge impact on our environment.

Megan Fitzpatrick writes on many topics. Check out her new site and learn more about the fisher price monitor and other cheap baby monitors