Earth Day is a day to appreciate and reflect; to start a dialogue with friends and family members on how our daily impacts are quickly transforming the only home we have. Above all, it’s a day to act. While we as humans may feel somewhat small in the grand scheme of this planet, our impact can vastly stretch. Small action taken by one may not feel like much, but small action taken by many, quickly multiplies.
For Nexamp’s second service day of 2021, we took action outdoors to help clean up the communities in which we live and work! Nexampers split into several groups to limit the amount of people we were able to have per site, taking all necessary COVID-19 precautions in order to ensure the health and safety of our team.
Here’s a look into our Earth Day (socially distanced) across multiple locations:
The Charles River Clean Up
Approximately 80% of ocean plastics comes from mismanaged waste on land that end up in our waterways, causing harm to wildlife and physical habitats. Nexampers, in partnership with Charles River Watershed Association, combed up and down the shorelines of the Charles River for trash and debris. Check out that trash haul above! Great job, team!
Fenway Victory Gardens
A team of Nexampers tended to the Fenway Victory Gardens in Boston for our fourth volunteer visit. Our team had a blast enjoying the sunshine and getting their hands dirty by getting the garden plots ready for the spring and summer crops.
Mill City Grows
Our Lowell team stuck out the finicky weather and helped Mill City Grows accomplish a big project that furthers their mission of bringing fresh, nutritious food to families across Greater Lowell! We’re proud to see our Nexampers make use of their service day to make a difference in their communities
Harborview Park
Our Portland, ME office braved the cold and windy morning to help Portland Parks Conservancy clean up around Harbor View Park. The team even made their way to Commercial Street, not too far from our Portland office, to pick up trash and debris under the Casco Bay Bridge.
Church Hill Park
The Chicago team arrived at Churchill Park in Glen Ellyn, Illinois ready to help Glen Ellyn Park District remove an invasive species – Common Buckhorn, a non-native shrub and/or small tree that was introduced to North America in the 1800. The species is detrimental to the health of our woodlands, prairies and parks. In fact, Common Buckhorn can take over large areas destroying wildlife habitat, food sources and even native plants that we need for a stable environment.
Virtual Environmental Justice Lunch and Learn
In addition to our onsite clean ups, Nexamp will be hosting a virtual lunch and learn on environmental justice. Joining us, will be guest speaker, Stephan Rountree of Vote Solar to discuss what environmental justice is and how it impacts our society. After our discussion, Nexampers will gather virtually to discuss what we learned and how we can act for greater equity in our society, and how we can keep moving forward in providing accessible clean energy for all.
Like Earth Day, we’ll come together on other service days – MLK Day, Juneteenth and Veteran’s Day – to listen, learn and take action. Because we believe service days are integral to who we are as a company and who we want to be.
Happy Earth Day!