Green Spaces Blog 5 Benefits Of Mindful Coworking Spaces

MINDFUL; TO BE CONSCIOUS OR AWARE OF YOUR ACTIONS AND IMPACT. Mindfulness, can be understood as conscious actions with environmental, social and personal impacts which help lead healthy lives and project positivity. Today we are starting to create environments which are mindful by nature, in the hope that we leave only positive marks on the world. As society turns towards conscious consumerism and mindful decisions, businesses have integrated mindful approaches into their work as well. A conscious attitude can go a long way in making a brand stand out as humble, grateful and considerate. As a consumer I find myself choosing Cabify, a lesser known ride-sharing platform in Spain, over more well known brands because of their green branding. The tagline 'We are Carbon Neutral' coupled with an app feature which allows you to check how many trees were planted in your name on the receipt, give superficial satisfaction and gratification of mindful consumerism. Entering the 2020s, green consumerism has gone from being an 'opt-in' bonus to a necessity to stay in the game. In fact, we predict this decade, mindfulness becomes essential for companies to not only be successful, but to stay relevant.So, where does this leave coworking? As spaces worldwide which bring together the business leaders of today, and tomorrow, coworking spaces need to foster a mindful environment to set the tone for the businesses that they nurture. Some coworking brands have adopted mindful attitudes and are leading by example, from environmental responsibility, to social action and other mindful practices. At OneCoWork, mindfulness has helped us stay true to our core values and provide a meaningful coworking experience for our members. Mindfulness will benefit your coworkers, whilst helping the world build a sustainable future.Top benefits of mindful coworking RECYCLING: LIKE IT WAS NEVER EVEN USEDPressure to recycle in the workspace is not a new phenomenon, however, recycling mindfully is. There is always that person who thinks they are being helpful, throwing their plastic water bottle in the paper recycling because "it was better than nothing". Thoughtless recycling is a trend which has led to contamination of over 25% of recyclable waste and in the US, The Environmental Protection Agency estimates whilst 75% of waste is recyclable, only 34% of waste is actually recycled (Rubicon, 2018). In the workspace; paper, printing and plastic cutlery, amongst other things, are the key culprits which can push employees towards unsustainable choices. However, coworking has had the opportunity to steer the culture in a different direction, if (and only if!) the space is mindful of its environmental impact. Huckletree, a coworking space based in the UK, actively discourages printing and supplies only recycled chlorine-free paper. In addition, it donates all printing fees to the Trees for Cities charity, in the hope that their members are conscious of the materials they use and sparing of the ones that they must waste. Creating awareness is the most important step in changing the culture, and at OneCoWork, we chose to do this through a recycling education campaign. Screens and social media explained the correct ways to recycle and the ways in which one item can contaminate the entire batch of waste. With the tagline "If in doubt, don't throw it out!" the campaign emphasized thinking through your actions to ensure there were no negative wider impacts. Once a mindful culture has been built, sustainability and waste are no longer limited to the traditional recycling of paper and plastic. In fact, at OneCoWork this sparked a wider recycling push for more intricate items such as bottle caps. We partnered with Fundación Seur, who recycle bottle caps to reduce CO2 emissions and raise money for those less fortunate. We set up a collection point in the Main Kitchen at our Placa Catalunya location. Fundacion Seur's bottle cap collection campaign has raised over €1 million, whilst reducing almost 8,000 tonnes of carbon emissions and we hope that our partnership continues to flourish.Finally, we have been focusing on the waste that comes with food sold at lunch. As leaders of the coworking community, it is our responsibility to ensure our partners, such as food providers, are using sustainable and high quality materials. Recently, Rumba n Roll, one of our local lunch providers, stopped sending lunch in cardboard and plastic containers, introducing a personal tupperware system to decrease lunch time waste. By making this compulsory for any coworker on a lunch delivery plan, they have had to become conscious of their reduced waste, pushing them to be more mindful in future or if nothing else just cutting down on the huge daily use of plastic and cardboard containers. THE RACE TO CARBON ZERORecycling is important, but as we have discussed it is not always as effective as it seems. True mindfulness starts with the space and materials themselves, not with the after-effects of using materials which are potentially damaging for the planet. Green Spaces lead by example, with over 160 solar panels on the roof of the coworking space to offset nearly 100% of energy use by members. Coupled with LED lighting throughout Green Spaces, their Coworking spaces are intended for mindfulness and built for limited emissions. At OneCoWork we too are conscious of our carbon emissions. We know that as we grow as a company, our social responsibility should grow with us. We decided to create an initiative that enables our members to feel like active and mindful participants in our social responsibility campaign. This sparked The Green Membership Plan, an opt-in addition to OneCoWork membership plans, starting at as little as ‎€0.30 per month, which is equivalent to one tree. By partnering with Forest Nation, a social enterprise focused on reconnecting companies and schools with nature, we are able to plant trees in our very own OneCoWork forest in Tanzania.Mass reforestation is one of the most effective ways in which we can combat climate change. We committed to 10,000 trees in November, and have planted an astounding 9,593 trees in the last three months alone (that's to date of writing, but see the updated forest here). Those 10,000 trees are our start towards being a more sustainable and mindful coworking space, as our forest will absorb 250 tons of CO2 and create 1,000 tons of O2 per year. Based in the city centre of Barcelona, the environment and problems within it have the potential to feel removed and distant. In spite of this, we are excited that we have the opportunity to be mindful of our wider home, the planet, and reduce our carbon emissions through this project. DESIGNED FOR SUCCESS As a coworking space, design must be at the core of what we do. Being mindful has helped us ensure that the spaces are not only elegant and vibrant, but that they are built to channel productivity and inspire creativity. At OneCoWork, our mindful design shines through at our Placa Catalunya location. We wanted to keep the building's creative history and factory origins at heart, so we kept original walls, throughout the building, exposed to maintain the essence of the building and inspire hard work.Whilst, design should be centered around practicality, it could potentially miss out on other opportunities to be mindful. It's amazing to see that Green Space has erected living walls as natural oxygen-emitting space partitions; transforming aesthetic design into a futuristic and thoughtful design feature. Likewise, Second Home in Lisbon has strategically placed more than 1000 drought resistant pot plants around its open work space to enhance air quality and insulate against noise (Huckletree). Design should look great whilst also providing additional benefits. CoCoon, Hong Kong's largest coworking space, prides itself on reusable bamboo floors and non-toxic wall paint, which is cost effective and has lower health risks, whilst looking just as good. Mindfulness goes further than just aesthetics and presentation. It takes into consideration the quality and origin of materials used. Sourcing local products is a fantastic way to support the community and its local economy. SoFourteen coworking, based in the UK, uses only repurposed and locally made furniture made by a small company who operate nearby. This avoids importing from thousands of miles away and cuts waste by salvaging furniture from second hand shops, including a centrepiece trunk that they use as a coffee table.WE ARE ALL COMMUNITYAs a coworking space, community has always been at the core of what we do, driving who we are and defining who we will become. However, being mindful has pushed us to put our wider community, not just our members, at the forefront of our decision making. We started The Positive Initiative Committee, to ensure we had a focused and purposeful effort on supporting our community. If we are advocating that Social Responsibility is essential for the companies within our coworking spaces, we must ensure we practice what we preach.One of our first initiatives was a collaboration with the NGO Homeless Entrepreneur in an event where members, friends and restaurants were able to donate anything from clothes and food, to haircuts, for the homeless in Barcelona. We collected over 500 meals, masses of clothes and came together at Arc de Triumph to give homeless people the chance to get haircuts, grab something to eat and have a chat. A few of us spent the night with the homeless under the Arc de Triumph with the intention of creating awareness of the problems they face in the streets. Without our mindful mentality, there is no way we would have thought to get out of our comfort zone, but it has never been more essential to support our wider community. In fact, our community is not and should not be limited to Barcelona, as technology has made it easier than ever to connect with others worldwide. When we chose to partner with Fores