Little Changes, Big Results

Climate change is one of today's "hot" topics. One thing we can all hopefully agree on is less pollution is best for everyone's health – for pets, people, and the planet. I remember driving past Lake Erie as a child and being told the lake was "dead". Forty years later, once industry stopped dumping waste into it, the lake is alive and flourishing. Small changes over time saved the lake.

Likewise, Bishop Ranch Veterinary Center has been reducing our carbon footprint from the day we opened in November, 2000 and doing our part to help protect the environment. Prior to opening, an additional 50 trees were added to the property and landscape swales were constructed to manage water runoff to help preserve our local creeks. A 10 cubic yard dumpster of cardboard is recycled weekly as well.

One side of the building no one sees is the roof. In 2004, 324 solar panels were installed, as shown in the picture below. We were the first commercial building in San Ramon to install solar panels and become a self-generator of electricity. These solar panels reduce carbon emissions equivalent to planting 14,100 trees!

Second, in 2008 we instituted a paperless medical records system. In addition to the adoption of 100% Electronic Medical Records, this year our software has been upgraded to allow us to email receipts instead of printing them.

Finally, in July 2017 we will hook up to the new municipal water line in order to irrigate our property using recycled water, saving tens of thousands of gallons of fresh water every year.

For the sake of all of us, we encourage all our clients to reduce, re-use, and recycle, and we are proud of our efforts to do the same. Here's to a greener planet for all of us!