Ebook
Earth Day Guide: Activate your employees by organizing a company clean-up event With other inspiring ways to show up for the planet on April 22nd
Table of Contents Why Earth Day? Showing up on April 22nd
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Invest in our planet: How to join the movement in 2022
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How to organize a company clean-up event
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More inspiration for making an impact this Earth Day
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Sustainable Challenges: Challenge your team's personal sustainability
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Raise money for an earth-caring nonprofit
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Volunteer with an planet-loving nonprofit
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Start the conversation: Educate your workforce on climate literacy
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Make your office eco-friendly
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Calculate and offset your carbon footprint
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Organize a donation drive that supports the planet
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Throw a recycling or upcycling workshop
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Pledge to end food waste
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Get started
Table of Contents
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Why Earth Day? Every year, we break records in the worst possible way. We have hotter temperatures, worse pollution, more climate-related disasters, and less time to solve the crisis we created. Searching for solutions can feel overwhelming, but your voice and your actions are powerful. Plus, you have a billion people to back you up. On April 22nd, more than a billion people will use Earth Day as inspiration to make a difference by speaking out and championing worldwide change. Do your part by rallying your employees to take this Earth Day seriously.
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Invest in our planet: How to join the movement in 2022 Each year, Earth Day takes on a new form by addressing our climate issues through a new lens. And this year, we're focusing on investing in our planet. This is a poignant theme that both acknowledges the amazing work of people - while stressing the essential role played by companies. When companies get involved, the progress made by individuals is amplified on a global scale. This gives us even more reason to engage our employees this Earth Day by encouraging them to take action against climate change alongside company-wide efforts. Because, as companies, we owe our employees and the larger world an explanation of how we plan to fight climate change by investing in our planet. And Earth Day is a great opportunity to share that plan with everyone. Don't miss out on a significant opportunity for your company to standout as an environmentally friendly organization and engage employees in activities that enable them to promote sustainability in their own lives.
When was the first Earth Day? Earth Day was first celebrated in 1970, mobilizing 20 million Americans to call for increased protections of our planet. In 1990, the movement went global mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries. Today, this worldwide awareness day mobilizes 1 billion people across 190 countries.
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Take action on April 22nd Follow these steps to organize a company clean-up within your local community The waste humans produce is an enormous strain on the environment. It pollutes ecosystems, animals mistake litter for food, and toxins leak into the soil or water. So get your teams together and collect waste in a local park, beach, river, or any shared space that inspires you to get outside and clean up!
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Step 1: Choose a local outdoor space that could use a spruce Pick an outdoor space that means something to the people of your company: maybe it's the park where employees take their breaks on a nice day or an iconic beach that's emblematic to the city or town. You'll find that your people are much more likely to participate if they're serving a space in their local community that means something to them. Plus, it means spending the whole day there with their teammates!
Step 2: Familiarize yourself with regulations Different towns and cities have their own rules about how we interact in public spaces. Make sure there aren't any guidelines about these kinds of clean-up events before sending your troops out there to clean up!
Step 3: Pick a convenient date and meeting point Take a poll to find the day that works for everyone's schedules! Or, if you offer volunteer hours off, let your teams know that they can use their hours towards this event. Then decide where in the outdoor space you plan on meeting. Send exact locations and pictures for reference so everyone knows where they're going on the day.
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Step 4: Organize and distribute the supplies Other than your employees, the outdoor space, and a nice day, there's not much more that you need to throw an amazing clean-up event! Just remember to pick up enough trash bags for everyone and provide or instruct participants to bring sanitary gloves. It may also be good to organize water and snack supplies if you'll be out in the sun for a long chunk of the day.
Step 5: Make it fun To make the event even more interactive, break up into teams and add a competitive element. Here are a few ways that you can gamify the experience to make the act of collecting trash more fun: Incentivize teams by offering a reward for the group that collects the most trash. Think something earth-friendly like a reusable water bottle, sustainable food wraps, or a certain number of trees planted in their name. Play "Trash Bingo" featuring typical waste that might be found along the way. Every time a team throws away one of the items on the list, they get to check it off until they hit bingo! Ask teams to take pictures of themselves in the process - the most creative photos win! Plus, this is a great way to generate content to use on social media to share the success of the event.
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Step 6: Plan a team-building lunch or talk for after Make the event even more special by having a picnic in the (newly cleaned!) park or by inviting a speaker to reflect with the group on the importance of taking care of our green spaces.
Step 7: Partner with a local nonprofit for more impact If you'd like to take your event to the next level, collaborate with a local planet-driven nonprofit to maximize on impact. This could also be a good opportunity to make your clean-up a more regular event for employees to participate in.
Additional Earth Day event ideas: Start a company garden - If you have a bit of outside space, why not plant some seeds and create a small company garden. Plants are good for the environment, but can also be stress relievers. The food that comes from the garden could then be donated to a soup kitchen or a food bank. Host a green potluck - Host an Earth Day themed potluck that is plastic and energy free (no microwaves!) with all vegetarian dishes. Go for a company walk - Going for a walk together can help your team building as well as being a great way to be aware of nature and help your employees get moving during the day. Plant trees - Find a nonprofit that organizes tree planting sessions nearby so that your whole team can proudly support their local environment.
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More inspiring ways to make an impact this Earth Day
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Sustainable Challenges: Challenge your team's personal sustainability Challenges are a great way to motivate your employees and peers to engage in any cause. It also creates a sense of friendly team competition, and you could even include a prize for those who complete the challenges (an online platform like Alaya by Benevity can facilitate this type of tracking). Here are a few examples of Sustainable Challenges that you could offer to your employees this Earth Day and beyond: Create your own cleaning products Travel to work by bike or foot for 1 week Bring your own shopping bags when going to the grocery store and reusable bags for loose for fruit and vegetables for 1 month Buy groceries with zero waste by buying in bulk for 1 week Replace tuna fish with bonito fish for 1 month Don’t eat products with palm oil for 1 month Reduce your meat consumption - eat veggie for 7 days!
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Raise money for an earth-loving nonprofit There are many nonprofits out there whose mission is to help our planet, and Earth Day is a great opportunity to encourage raising money for these causes. Start a fundraising campaign for a nonprofit of your choice - make it local to each of your office locations - and encourage making a real impact this Earth Day. Here are vetted some nonprofits that support sustainability in different ways: Environmental Defense Fund Pure Earth Ocean As Common Rescuing leftover cuisine On a mission Ecomar Foundation Unisoap
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Volunteer for a tree-hugging nonprofit Whether it’s virtually or physically, find a nonprofit that you and your employees can support this Earth Day. Volunteers can offer their support in different ways, including traditional field volunteering or skillsbased volunteering. Here's a list of vetted nonprofits that you can partner with around the world that push planet-conscious missions: Ecochallenge.org Climate Action Network Europe Friends of the Earth Europe Waterways Watch Society The Pollinators Zero Waste Trash Hero
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Start the conversation: Educate your workforce on climate literacy One of the best ways to create awareness is education. There are many films, TED talks, podcasts, and books about the environment to share with your employees & peers so they can inform themselves and speak to the issue when it comes up in their daily lives. You could even organize a book club or film night for employees to watch and discuss resources collectively. Here are some useful resources on sustainability to share with your employees:
Movies
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Books
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Talks
The disarming case to act right now on
TEDTalks with Kristen Bell and Giant Ant
climate change by Greta Thunberg Source
‘Why is the world warming up?’ Source
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Another effective way to start (or continue) the conversation around the environment is by inviting a speaker into the office to frame the topic for your employees. This could be an expert or even a representative from a nonprofit organization that you support. Here’s a list of some well-known environmentalists that you can approach: Pen Hadow Kate Brandt Andy Pag Ugwem Eneyo Kevin J. Surace Josephine Fairley Suzanne Lee Liz Bonnin
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Make your office eco-friendly Whether your team is working on site, or remotely, there are plenty of small and easy changes that can be made in the office to be more environmentally friendly. Here are a few simple ways that you can make your office more sustainable: Set up new recycling stations: If you don’t want oceans littered with garbage, rivers full of waste, and cities where the air is unbreathable, recycling is an easy way to help avoid it! Go plastic-free: Encourage employees to avoid plastic whenever possible, perhaps even gamifying the experience with a leaderboard for who manages to bring the least plastic into the office. Start green initiatives: Try to go paperless and change to more ecofriendly light bulbs. Give people a plant budget or send a plant as a gift to your employees: Plants can reduce stress and anxiety, as well as increase concentration, and improve the quality of the air.
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Calculate and offset your carbon footprint Our carbon footprint shows our contribution to climate change based on the CO2 emissions generated by our daily activities. For emissions that can’t be reduced, offsetting these emissions offers a way to compensate for them. For example, we can find ways to offset the energy we consume when we turn on lights, drive a car, or even send an email. Once your emissions have been calculated, you can offset it by contributing to environmental projects like planting a tree to support reforestation, supporting alternative lower carbon energy sources, supporting sustainable projects in disadvantaged areas to enable their inhabitants to improve their quality of life and protect biodiversity! Carbon footprint calculators are available online for individuals, and some other platforms can centralize it all-in-one at an organizational level. Make sure you share your results and how you plan to offset your emissions with your teams - and ask them to do the same!
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Organize a donation drive that supports the planet Donation drives are an effective way to get your employees involved in doing good. To make your donation drive eco-friendly, share with employees that for every X items donated, the company will commit to planting X number of trees. This is also a good moment for educating your workforce on the importance of donating over throwing away unwanted items. Every little bit helps lower production rates!
Throw a recycling or upcycling workshop To educate your employees on how they can recycle more in their daily lives, throw a workshop that combines learning about correct recycling with actually correctly disposing of things that unnecessarily take up space in the office or at home. This is a great opportunity to do a bit of spring cleaning in the process! Plus, did you know that the fashion industry - especially fast fashion - is a significant source of harm to our environment? This is due to a production process that releases toxins into nature, uses up water, and contributes greatly to worldwide carbon emissions. If someone in your office is particularly inspired by shopping sustainably, champion them to organize a workshop to share their upcycling tips! This is a fun way to talk personal style - while making it plant-friendly.
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Pledge to end food waste There are many ways you can combine protecting the environment with other causes. For example, food waste exacerbates the climate change crisis with its significant greenhouse gas footprint. When we avoid food waste, we can prevent landfills from piling up even more and even support people in situations of food insecurity. Put together activities for your teams to lend a hand to organizations like food banks that retrieve and supply food that would otherwise land in the trash - even though it's still good to consume. You could also partner up with a local restaurant or cafe to collect their leftover food at the end of the day and distribute to the local shelter. This would also be an effective way to keep the initiative up long past Earth Day!
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How to get started There are plenty of opportunities to activate and engage your employees this Earth Day and it can be a great jumping point for your organization to start engaging employees in important causes like this on a regular basis. All it takes is some ideas (which you’ve got here!) and a little planning. Want to make sure you are prepared in advance for international days like Earth Day? The earlier you start the better to get as much buzz and participation within the company. That's why we put together this calendar with some key international days throughout the year. Choose which ones link to your company’s purpose/interests and plan ahead!
Partner with a CSR platform Finally, having a partner like Alaya by Benevity can help you to manage these campaigns. A CSR platform like this helps you to: Track how many people participate and contribute to the campaign to build your case for future campaigns and measure your impact Give your employees a choice of different nonprofits they could support around the cause on a single platform Connect all employees on one user-friendly dashboard which offers habit-forming Challenges and a space to celebrate their colleagues efforts.
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