Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.com.

“Earth Day is the first holy day which transcends all national borders, yet preserves all geographical integrities, spans mountains and oceans and time belts, and yet brings people all over the world into one resonating accord…”
—Margaret Mead

In 1962, U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson, made it his mission to raise political and social consciousness about environmental issues. After years of demonstrations and speeches in the turbulent 60’s, Earth Day arrived: April 22nd, 1970. Decades later, politicians and scientists are still working to raise our awareness of environmental issues, like Nobel Peace Prize Winner and former Vice President Al Gore, in his book, An Inconvenient Truth.

At Bigelow Tea, our respect for the environment is reflected in everything we say and do, which is why we established a Sustainabili-Tea program. As part of this program, we formed the Trash Hippies (named after the 60’s and 70’s green protesters), a team whose goal was to reduce (by 30%) the amount of trash going to landfill from the Boise Idaho facility. By saving, separating and categorizing all trash into recyclables and non-recyclables, we not only achieved our goal, but exceeded it by an additional 10% – recycling 57,700 lbs of product that would otherwise have gone to the landfill! We continue to recycle: white paper, material cores, brown paper and plastic bags — even utensils and plates in the lunch room! Going green has become a way of life for us.

In the sage words of famous anthropologist, Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world.” We at Bigelow Tea are profoundly committed to sustaining the precious bounty that is our planet Earth. Why? Because it’s the right thing to do.