Your Every Move Matters In The Game Of Climate Change! Choose Wisely; Choose E-signatures!

Nature is the core element that helps us survive; it provides oxygen, regulates weather patterns, and produces our food, feed, and fiber. When speaking of biological diversity, one often limits the scope to a variety of animals, plants, and microorganisms. However, biological diversity is far more than this. For instance, combinations of crops and breeds of livestock; varieties of ecosystems, i.e., lakes, deserts, forests, and agricultural landscape; humans, plants, and animals – everything matters while considering biodiversity. Biological resources act as the pillars upon which we build civilizations and can be grouped into those that affect agriculture, those that are sources of scientific inputs, and those that provide natural goods and services.

Human beings, however, have managed to cause an unprecedented level of damage to nature and this planet. Human activity has altered nearly 75% of the earth’s surface, pushing wildlife and nature into an ever-smaller corner of the earth. We collectively fail to understand that this damage can only cause danger to our health and quality of life.

With the widespread COVID-19 virus, it is evident that this scale of biodiversity loss can and will increase the chances of such zoonosis or diseases transmitted from animals to humans.

On the other hand, if we change today to keep our biodiversity intact, we just may have a fighting chance against such diseases in the future.

The choice is ours! The future is in our hands now, and our every move counts in this game of climate change! May 22nd was observed as International Biodiversity Day – there is no better opportunity to show our affection toward nature. So, let’s do our part for a better and sustainable future.

International Day of Biological Diversity 2022

The United Nations has proclaimed May 22 as the International Day for Biological Diversity to increase understanding and awareness of pressing biodiversity issues. Despite all the technological advancements, we rely on a healthy and vibrant ecosystem for our food, water, medicines, clothes, fuel, shelter, and energy, among other things. For all our issues related to weather, health, nutrition, water security, and sustainable livelihood, biodiversity is the foundation that can help us rebuild better. Healthy biodiversity remains the answer to numerous sustainable development challenges. The International Day of Biological Diversity this year was celebrated under the theme: “Building a shared future for all life.” The slogan was selected to continue building momentum and support the post-2020 global biodiversity framework to be embraced at the upcoming UN Biodiversity Conference COP15.

Also Read: Going Green with Digital Signatures

Go paperless!

Among the numerous things we can do to protect nature, perhaps the most significant contribution would be going paperless. Going paperless, especially in a business, can also save several overhead costs. While it may not be possible for everyone to avoid frequent traveling for work purposes, reducing office waste, recycling plastic waste, reducing energy consumption, or investing in water harvesting, the one thing we all can easily do is restricting the usage of paper in our daily office use.

Traditional working habits die hard. The image of paperless offices has been a dream for decades now, but the average office worker still uses over 10,000 sheets of paper in a year.

The paper industry cuts down 20 trees to produce one metric ton of paper, and all these trees combined could absorb up to 0.5 tons of carbon dioxide annually from the atmosphere. The paper production process consumes 6.7 million liters of water and produces 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide per metric ton of paper produced. To be precise, roughly a net of 2 tons of carbon dioxide emits for each ton of copy paper. Yet, 65% of businesses globally still use pen and paper to collect signatures for operations, which can have dire environmental consequences if continued.

Moving from the traditional pen and paper method to digital documents is a very critical step in an organization’s digital transformation journey. Fear of failure and the unknown tends to intimidate many organizations. But this is the time to do our bit for future betterment and being catalysts for change. If stakeholders and business executives are fully aligned and invested in driving the change, the initiative is already on the verge of success. Organizations must create a roadmap and define policies to succeed in their first step toward paperless offices. The move toward a paperless world is rife with benefits for any business, particularly those highly reliant on forms and contracts. These businesses include healthcare, law firms, insurance companies, financial services, and the government. Below are the benefits of embracing digital documents and signatures, replacing the traditional paper documents and signatures:

• Save money spent on papers and pens and a tremendous amount of storage space.
• Streamline and fast-track critical business operations and processes.
• Make document access faster and easier.
• Sign documents from any location, any time.
• Reduce time and cost associated with editing, formatting, and redistributing documents and forms to get them signed.
• Manage electronic records easily for further signing requirements.
• Use any device or browser to sign documents electronically.
• Protect documents from getting lost, stolen, tampered with, or destroyed.
• Get a more secure and end-to-end encrypted signing experience.
• Cut down on approval cycles.
• Enhance the security of confidential data.
• Improve client and employee experience.

How to go paperless with electronic signatures?

The pace of digitization is skyrocketing everywhere in the world. Irrespective of your business, age, sector, or educational background, digital documents are transforming the way we operate. Using digital documents and electronic signatures to sign essential agreements, forms, or contracts is becoming a new normal with the increase in remote working scenarios. Discover the ways you can cut down on paper usage.

• Businesses

The ever-growing market has forced organizations to keep up with the market trends and meet customer demands. Businesses deal with numerous clients, employees, other workforces, and myriad data associated with all of them. Manually managing all this data, sending or receiving documents to get them signed, and providing a hassle-free customer experience are tedious tasks that might turn into revenue loss. Moreover, the paper consumption in all the business processes becomes overwhelming. E-signatures can turn this situation upside down; it makes it easy to sign critical agreements or contracts remotely, hire new employees, salary and insurance rollout, manage sales processes, and provide customer satisfaction. Using electronic records makes it easy to manage overwhelming data. Moreover, it can reduce paper usage.

• Students

Student life starts with paper and ends with a piece of paper; from books and application forms to job applications, paper usage is an indispensable part of a student’s life. If schools and colleges try to reduce paper usage by embracing digital means, we can cut down on paper usage and also instill paperless workflows in our students from an early stage. Students can use electronic signatures to sign admissions forms, job application forms, bank loan forms, scholarships, etc.

• Individuals and senior citizens

Are signatures only limited to businesses and institutions? Of course not! Any individual, irrespective of age, can leverage e-signatures to perform daily tasks. Senior citizens are often asked to be physically present to sign documents or forms related to their pension, healthcare, insurance, etc. Even simple and daily activities include using paper in large amounts, which can only be reduced by embracing electronic signatures. Individuals and senior citizens can use e-signatures to sign their insurance forms, file income tax returns, healthcare documents, banking forms, etc.

If everyone, including individuals, students, businesses, and senior citizens, started using electronic documents for personal or business needs, the amount of paper we will save and indirectly reduced the rate of deforestation would certainly make a dent in the collapsing biodiversity of our planet. Your every move counts in the protection of our biodiversity, and now is the time to make this move!

DrySign e-signatures provide an electronic signature platform for everyone who aims to reduce paper consumption. We are already doing our bit for nature; it’s high time you invest in nature too! Your every step matters in the game of climate change. So, choose wisely and start DrySigning!

Sources: pca.state.mn.us | medium.com

DISCLAIMER: The information on this site is for general information purposes only and is not intended to serve as legal advice. Laws governing the subject matter may change quickly, and Exela cannot guarantee that all the information on this site is current or correct. Should you have specific legal questions about any of the information on this site, you should consult with a licensed attorney in your area.

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