Every month is Earth Month at AMS Fulfillment. We never forget about doing what we can do to minimize any damage to the environment caused by operating our business. But since there is a commemoration going on in April, and April 22nd is Earth Day we are happy to join in and encourage others to honor our beautiful planet.
Why Earth Month?
Earth Month started during the years when Americans were using leaded gasoline and creating significant air pollution due to inefficient emissions from our cars. It was in the early 1960s when a book came out, written by Rachel Carson, titled “Silent Spring”. That best-selling book really elevated the awareness of the effect of pollution on all living organisms.
In addition to the air pollution due to automobiles, there was another environmental crisis. From National Today [LINK] we read the following:
“In January 1969, several witnesses saw a massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California, which caused major destruction to the environment. This captured the attention of senator Gaylord Nelson who wanted to use students’ passion and energy for anti-war protests for ecological activism, particularly regarding air and water pollution. This idea inspired a group of activists to dedicate themselves to encouraging all Americans to be proactive and environmentally conscious. They named their initiative Earth Day, which immediately caught the attention of the media and since a day isn’t enough to achieve the desired results regarding climate solutions, Earth Month was created. This was first celebrated on April 4, 1970.”
Thankfully this effort caught on and by 1990, Earth Month became a global event. At a website called Sustain Life [LINK] we read about how the concern for the environment grew. After the 1970 inaugural event the Environmental Protection Agency was established, and the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act were passed into law.
“In 1990, Earth Day went global, with events and activities taking place worldwide, marking the beginning of Earth Month, which is now celebrated every April. The event grew in popularity, and in 2009, the United Nations designated April 22 as International Mother Earth Day. Today, Earth Day is celebrated in over 190 countries. While Earth Month is a time to celebrate the progress made when protecting the environment, it’s also a time to reflect and double down on action to address the climate crisis and the environmental challenges that remain.”
How AMS Celebrates
Our AMS Green Team will be active and involved on Earth Day (April 22), and we will report on the activities of our Team when the day arrives. In the meantime, we take a moment to uplift Earth Month and express our gratitude to all individuals and all businesses that dedicate themselves to caring for the environment.
In the past years, corporations have contributed to the destruction of rivers, forests, oceans, land, and the air we all breathe. We have seen oil spills, pollution poured into rivers, forests stripped of trees, toxic spills into the environment and sadly these things are still happening. We are grateful for the businesses that join us in our B Corporation commitment to put Planet before Profit and we urge all businesses and institutions to focus on how to lessen the negative impact on our shared Earth.
AMS is proud to have achieved Carbon Neutral status in 2023 and we continue our efforts for 2024. What do we focus on? Our first effort, begun years ago, was recycling and proper handling of all packaging materials. Our goal is to minimize and even eliminate our contribution to landfills. Last year we recycled over one million pounds of cardboard. Recently, after a long effort and some expense, we found a way to recycle stretch plastic. Today it doesn’t end up in a landfill, but instead it is re-used to create any number of plastic-based products.
AMS has eliminated the use of gasoline powered forklifts, we have changed the lighting in our warehouses, and we are most proud of our use of earth friendly options for sustainable packaging materials. We also have created a catalog for our clients to use in determining the packaging they wish to utilize, and we plan to revamp it this year.
We are doing what we can, and we have a very dedicated Green Team researching and creating more ways to lessen our impact. We are looking forward to providing a full report from our Team for Earth Day, April 22nd.
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AMS Fulfillment is proud to be a Certified B Corporation, dedicated to People and Planet over Profit. We aim to B the Change we wish to see in the world.