Goin’ Green…

So it’s a New Year, and with it comes the dreaded laundry-list of resolutions that bring with it the best of intentions and an uncanny ability to demonstrate to ourselves just how much (or little, as the case may be) follow-through we really do have.

In the immortal words of one Dirty Harry, “A man’s GOT to know his LIMITATIONS.” Which is why I’m particularly pleased with one of my resolutions this year: to truly be more environmentally friendly. It’s true that I’m a big fan of the whole “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” thing, and yet where performing VOs is concerned, it’s been a real challenge to wean myself from the use of printed paper scripts.

Recently, I had to pack up my old kit bag and smile, smile, smile my way into new living quarters. The good news is that there was a studio-ready space for me to move into, and the place even has a wireless printer that I could easily connect to, so with very little time and effort I was back (literally) in business saying words for my beloved clients.

Of course, shortly after I got here, the lovely great wireless printer I was now using developed some kind of infarction, and will no longer feed paper. And the majority of the work I’m doing is too lengthy for a hand-written transcription…so I was feeling a bit stuck.

That’s when I decided to try something new. I was recently the recipient of a hand-me-down Kindle, and though I knew relatively little about the gadget (outside of the fact that I read The Hunger Games on it and LOVED it!) I was aware that I could put .pdf files on it from my PC with very little in the way of fuss.

After some experimentation with things like font size and such, I’ve found this to be a very viable alternative to printing out paper scripts. In fact, I’m thrilled to say that I’ve already saved several hundred sheets of paper in just over a month and a half.

Sure, there are limitations to the format, and I’m sure there are many better tools in the world of “tablet gadgets”, but for me for now this is a wonderful way to get things done while not wasting resources.

So watch out, 2012! With the money I’m saving on paper, toner, and the replacement cost of a printer, I might just have to splurge on a little road trip. FaffCon IV, anyone?

…OK…I’m not going to save that much money on paper, toner, and printer replacement…but it makes me feel better to say it…