This week people around the world joined together to recognize Earth Day. For those of us living in Southern California, affected by the alarming drought and state-wide water restrictions, this is an appropriate time to pause and consider our own environmental impact.
The idea of protecting our diminishing resources is not a new phenomenon. Al Gore won an Oscar in 2006 for bringing An Inconvenient Truth to the forefront of our collective consciences. Michael Jackson advocated for our Earth back in 1995. More than two decades earlier, Gaylord Nelson, a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, suggested Americans set aside a day to have serious discussions about environmental issues – marking the beginning of Earth Day in 1970.
The movement dates back even further. The Air Pollution Control Act in 1955 was the first U.S. law enacted to address air pollution. The National Park Service was founded in 1912, after John Muir founded the Sierra Club in 1892. And, in one of the earliest instances of cultural awareness about the environment, the English Parliament passed a 1388 act forbidding filth and garbage to be thrown into ditches, rivers and bodies of water.
Since long before my time here at Oster, the team has made an effort to be earth-friendly in our choices. We recycle what we can and use scratch paper for internal projects and note-taking. We use real coffee mugs and dishes instead of plastic ones. We utilize cotton hand towels instead of paper. We have motion-sensor lights throughout the office. Patrick even commutes using the bus (and one of these days soon I promise to try bicycling to the office).
Many of our clients share our views in conservation. Armstrong Garden Centers encourages waterwise landscapes and native California plants, which utilize less water to grow. They’re re-landscaping many of their own garden centers to save water and set an example consumers can follow. And, our client Organics Unlimited has been growing certified organic bananas since 2000. While there is debate on the sustainability of organic agriculture, we know that in terms of the soil and impacts to the land, organic farming has a generally low environmental impact.
The Oster team believes in evolving – as a brand, as a state and as a species. Charles Darwin said that it is not the strongest of species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one that is most adaptable to change. We invite you to join us in finding small ways you can help create a more sustainable Southern California.
-Hannah
