Happy Earth Day!
Hello friends, happy Earth Day! We asked our Sustainability Coordinator, Liz, to break down some of our environmentally-driven partnerships and the work these organizations do to protect our planet. Read on:
Every year, people around the world take time to celebrate, reflect, and engage in meaningful ways on my favorite holiday, Earth Day. Here in Michigan we are fortunate to be surrounded by the Great Lakes. If you didn’t know, the Great Lakes comprise 84% of North America’s fresh water and about 21% of the world’s fresh water supply. We are also home to more than 20 million acres of forest, 10 million acres of farmland and nearly five million acres of public land.
In order to protect all of these invaluable resources, we partner with organizations both locally and nationally that work tirelessly to educate, protect, and enhance access to our awesome natural resources.
Nationally, we’ve partnered with The Conservation Alliance which is dedicated to the protection of wild places for their habitat and recreational values. Over the course of their almost 30 year existence, they’ve helped protect 51 million acres of wildlands, 3,107 miles of rivers, stop or remove 34 dams, designate 5 marine reserves, and purchase 14 climbing areas for future use.
Locally, we’ve partnered with awesome organizations such as WMEAC, Friends of Grand Rapids Parks, and Grand Rapids Whitewater.
WMEAC, or West Michigan Environmental Action Council, has been around for over 50 years advocating, educating and empowering individuals and groups to be powerful agents of change here in Grand Rapids.
Friends of Grand Rapids Parks has been working to create vibrant parks and green spaces here in the city for over 10 years. They’re on a mission to increase access to green spaces and our city’s canopy cover for the myriad of benefits that trees create in urban environments.
Lastly, our friends over at Grand Rapids Whitewater are out to put the rapids back in the Grand River. Benefitting Grand Rapidians with not only awesome recreational value, GRWW aims to increase the biological diversity, resilience and habitat for native species.
From global to local, we aim to minimize our impact on the environment as much as possible. Over the years we’ve worked to reduce our consumption of natural resources and dependency on landfills. We’re now proud to be able to bring world class beer to our fans using less than four gallons of water for every gallon of beer produced, packaged, and out the door. Now using nearly 11% less water than five years ago, while producing 270% more beer! We’re also using less energy than ever before (almost 12% less) and diverting over 90% of our waste from landfill or incineration.
While these efforts have been incredible gains in our efficiency, there’s always more to do. We’ll continue to partner with organizations that are working to better our planet and our communities, and we’ll continue to make strides in our own use of natural resources. For now, remember that every day can be Earth Day, and even the small choices you make can have large impacts.
From all of us here at Founders Brewing Co. Happy Earth Day!
Liz Wonder, Sustainability Coordinator
