Celebrating Earth Day: People and Organizations Helping to Protect Our Planet

Life at Zoom

Celebrating Earth Day: People and Organizations Helping to Protect Our Planet

Roxana Shirkhoda

April 22, 20226 min read

Every year on April 22, people around the world come together to raise awareness about environmental protection by celebrating Earth Day.

This year, we at Zoom are recognizing community organizations working tirelessly to combat climate change and create a more sustainable future, which we're supporting through Zoom Cares, our social impact arm. We're also highlighting Zoomies across the globe who are taking action to show they care and sharing some of our own efforts to reduce our company's impact on the environment.

We hope you'll join us in supporting these organizations' impactful work and take note of five ways you can help contribute to the health and preservation of our remarkable planet Earth.

Recognizing Zoom Cares' environmental partners

The environment is a core area of focus for the Zoom Cares team. We work with our nonprofit partners to further efforts that provide a sustainable future for those most impacted by climate change, recognizing that environmental justice is inextricably linked to factors like social equity and health, and that climate change disproportionately affects low-income neighborhoods, immigrants, and communities of color.

We're grateful to support organizations contributing to positive change around the world with more than $2.5 million in our latest climate grant round. Get to know some of these organizations below:

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Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN)

APEN is an environmental justice organization with deep roots in California's Asian immigrant and refugee communities. APEN members have worked for decades toward environmental justice and sustainability. Together, they are building community-owned renewable energy resources to power our neighborhoods and leading a Just Transition toward local, healthy, and life-sustaining economies that benefit everyone.

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Michigan Alliance for Justice in Climate (MAJIC)

MAJIC, the Michigan branch of the national Green New Deal Network, brings together diverse professionals, organizers, and volunteers who share a common commitment to realizing climate justice for The Great Lakes. Together with the Green New Deal Network, MAJIC has created the THRIVE Agenda to support climate justice, jobs, access to transportation, and funding for communities in need.

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Seed

Seed is Australia's first Indigenous youth climate network, mobilizing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people in the fight for climate justice. Seed provides platforms for volunteers and allies to take action - like its campaign to ban fracking in the Northern Territory - led by communities on the frontlines in solidarity with supporters across the country.

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Women's Collective

Women's Collective is a nonprofit connecting more than 100,000+ women members across 19 districts in Tamil Nadu, India. The women work together to promote sustainable development in their communities, establish collective farms, and address climate change and biodiversity preservation by promoting the use and conservation of traditional crop seeds.

Zoomies taking action

From Australia to the Netherlands to the U.S., our regional Zoom offices have coordinated activities to celebrate Earth Day and get Zoomies involved in caring for the environment.

In Denver, Zoomies received Tree in a Box kits to plant trees in their community. A single tree can absorb as much as 48 pounds of carbon dioxide per year!

[Link]Tree in a Box kits with seeds and supplies in the Zoom Denver office.

Our Sydney office hosted a workshop with community partner OzHarvest to educate employees on reducing wasted food, which contributes approximately 5% to 6% of total human-created carbon emissions.

[Link]OzHarvest setting up in Zoom's Sydney office for a workshop on reducing food waste.

Zoomies in our Amsterdam office will spend a day volunteering with Plastic Whale, working together to keep the city's canals (known as "grachten") clean and vibrant.

Zoom's sustainability efforts

Over the past year, we took a number of actions to make sustainable choices for our company and help reduce our impact on the environment. Below are a few of those efforts - which represent the start of our journey. We will be further expanding our company sustainability efforts throughout 2022.

• We engaged Anthesis, a global sustainability consultancy, to conduct an audit of greenhouse gas emissions in our offices. We will use this audit to help identify where we can make meaningful improvements, set targets, and measure the effectiveness of our efforts.
• We conducted an audit of our offices' energy usage and providers to identify opportunities for reducing usage and purchasing green energy.
• We retrofitted our lighting and HVAC systems in Zoom offices to improve the energy efficiency of our physical spaces.
• We updated our travel policy to promote Zoom First as a way to encourage employees to be mindful of our carbon footprint.

5 actions you can take to care for our planet

Earth Day is all about embracing actions we can take as individuals and organizations to help care for and protect our planet Earth. Every action, small and large, makes a difference - here are a few ways you can reduce your impact on the environment:

1. Donate to an environmental organization. Looking for a recommendation? Giving Green is an evidence-based guide that helps donors support organizations fighting climate change. Or donate to one of the amazing organizations we've highlighted above!
2. Write a letter to your elected representative. Strengthen the voice for environmental action by asking them to support policies that protect the environment.
3. Switch to renewable energy. Call your utility company to see if you can switch to green power, or look into generating your own clean energy with solar panels.
4. Reduce emissions from traveling. Save money, keep fit, and enjoy the outdoors by biking or walking instead of driving. You can also carpool with others, or even use Zoom instead of traveling by car or plane, to reduce your carbon footprint.
5. Switch to reusable cups and containers. Just one disposable cup of coffee or tea per day creates about 23 pounds of waste in one year. Use a reusable coffee mug, tumbler, or cup to reduce waste.

Visit EarthDay.org for even more ways you can take action. If you'd like to learn about Zoom's sustainability efforts, visit our Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) page.

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