Spruce Industries Blog Page

What did you do on Earth Day?

It’s ironic to think that we have designated one day on Earth to be deemed “Earth Day” when in fact, everyday should be Earth Day. Now I know that everyone “goes green” on April 22nd, but I wanted to ask you what you did on Earth Day? Did you reclycle a soda can? Did you turn off your lights more than usual? Well, as you can see from my lack of entries, I have been very busy since “Green-Day” 2008. So to jump start this conversation of “What did you do on Earth Day,” I have detailed below what Spruce Industries gave back on Earth Day and how it not only made an impact on those that we helped, but how it affected me as well.

On Earth Day, April 22nd, Spruce donated two trees to the local community. To be honest, it wasn’t just any kind of tree, it was a Spruce tree. Also, to be fair, it wasn’t just the local community, it was two elementary schools that have a personal connection with Spruce. Our first donation took place at Oak Ridge Heights School in Colonia, NJ. Our purchasing manager, Linda McGowan spent many of her days wandering those same halls when she was a kid. The event started with a terrific presentation in the gymnasium where one of our manufacturers, Gojo Industries, gave a great presentation on personal hygiene and hand washing. The presentation then moved outside for the actual tree planting ceremony while the elementary school choir sang several songs.

“Green-Day” continued as we headed north to Springfield, NJ. We celebrated the second half of our Earth Day at James Caldwell School. It wasn’t too long ago… OK it probably was a long time ago…. that Hank Josephs, Spruce Industries’ president, could be seen running around the playground of this very same school. Almost 50 years ago, Hank enjoyed the beautiful landscape of Caldwell School. Now it was time for us to give back. With the Caldwell School Environmental Club on hand to help give the new Spruce tree it’s first watering, Hank had an opportunity to educate the students on the values of family and what it means to be part of a community. His message was plain and simple: It’s about giving back to a community and providing the next generation with an equal opportunity to grow up in a clean and green environment.

I know Earth Day is just once a year and it is important to try and make improvements and be conscious of the environment everyday but we live in a fast pace world and sometimes it isn’t easy. There are so many aspects of our lives that can be enhanced or improved by simply looking for the “Greener” solution. My best advice is to impart one green action each day. Don’t try and implement, do, revamp, rebuild and remodel everything in one day - you will find the tasks overwhelming, the solutions overpriced and the idea of “Going Green” to simply be over. But if you take the time to research the issues and the solutions, you will find that the most modest modifications can have enormous benefits. Just think of the trees we planted…we not only planted two Spruce trees, but we planted the importance of being environmentally conscious in the next generation.

So I now want to hear from you…what did you do on Earth Day?