Celebrating Earth Day all month long
While Earth Day was officially celebrated on 22 April, our volunteers celebrated throughout the month with volunteer activities, office sustainability initiatives, and learning opportunities.
Our offices used Earth Day as an opportunity to highlight our existing environmental and sustainability policies, as well as a way to launch new sustainable initiatives. Browse some of our efforts here.
All of our offices in the Americas received a "Start your week sustainably" email campaign, which informed readers of the environmental challenges set forth in the United Nations" Sustainable Development Goals and provided everyday tips for making a positive impact on our environment. The campaign was also featured on the firm intranet throughout the month, further promoting our sustainability value to all members of our firm.
Our Boston, Denver, Los Angeles, Louisville, Minneapolis, Rio de Janeiro, and Washington offices participated in park, beach, and river cleanups, helping to remove plastic and other trash from local parks and waterways.
In Washington, we participated in an effort that collected more than 2,000 straws that would have otherwise ended up in the Anacostia River. In Boston, we joined a group of 3,000 volunteers to remove litter and other invasive species from parks and trails along the Charles River. And in Louisville, 26 of our colleagues braved a rare April snow and ice storm to plant trees with members of the Louisville Police Department at Algonquin Park.
Members of our Mexico City office worked with GRUPEDSAC to build an organic family vegetable garden for a family in Huixquilucan, Edo. De México. GRUPEDSAC works to achieve sustainable development in Mexico through comprehensive programs that promote self-sufficiency, self-development, and care of natural resources.
While some of our offices looked for ways to support sustainability efforts outside of the office, others focused on finding ways to make their offices greener.
In Houston, we collected old electronics to donate to a local nonprofit, Compudopt, which provides low-income families and children access to computers and computer literacy programs. Our office was able to collect a few dozen electronics, with items ranging from cell phone chargers to computer hard drives.
In New York, our office held two major Earth Day contests – a bingo competition for sustainable acts and an office clean-up competition. These competitions encouraged participants to complete green acts and remove unused and unrecyclable items. Our office also collected approximately 12 boxes of professional clothing for Bottomless Closet, a local nonprofit which supports women entering the workforce by providing interview clothing and coaching.
Our Denver, Los Angeles, and New York offices are all in the process of removing single-use plastics from their pantries. We're removing plastic straws from our pantries in Los Angeles and New York, and in Denver we're working to permanently remove all plastic from our pantries with help from our Facilities team.
Many of our offices purchased bracelets created by 4Ocean, an organization that actively removes trash from the ocean with the purchase of each bracelet. Each bracelet the company sells pulls one pound of trash from the ocean.
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