#FlashbackFriday: The First Earth Day and Key Exchange Sustainability Dates
The first Earth Day was April 22, 1970—52 years ago today. According to the official Earth Day website, Gaylord Nelson, a Wisconsin senator who had been concerned about the deteriorating environment in the United States, announced an idea for a “teach-in” on college campuses to the national media, and persuaded Pete McCloskey, a conservation-minded Republican congressman, to serve as his co-chair. They recruited activist Denis Hayes to organize the campus teach-ins and they choose April 22, which falls between spring break and final exams, to optimize student participation. (For much more on Earth Day history, click here.)
The Exchange has a longstanding commitment to the sustainability that Earth Day promotes. A few key dates are below.
1977: The Exchange opens its first solar-powered shopping center at Randolph Air force Base near San Antonio, Texas. It is not only the Exchange’s first, but the world’s first shopping center to be heated and cooled by solar energy.
2007: The Exchange becomes actively involved with the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) to promote buildings and communities that are environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy places to live and work.
2008: The Exchange introduces reusable bags for military shoppers.
2009: An organization-wide “Trash-4-Cash” recycling program begins. Plastic hangers, aluminum cans, books and periodicals, cardboard and shredded paper are compressed into large bales ready for recycling. The program also uses recycle bins to encourage customers and associates to recycle paper, plastic and aluminum cans. The commodities recycled during the first full year of the program totaled more than 4,500 tons.
2010: Randolph becomes the home of the first “green” Exchange. The 167,100-square-foot store, which uses the latest environmentally friendly design, replaced the one that opened in 1977. The design includes water-efficient equipment in the food court; low gallons-per-flush toilets; roofing materials that reflect 78 percent of the light and ultraviolet rays to help with air conditioning and heating; and Energy Star-rated. The first green Exchange on an Army base opens a few months later at Fort Polk, Louisiana Subsequent stores were built using the same energy-efficient technologies.
The same year, the Exchange completes a worldwide rollout of an automated paper towel dispenser program and a compact coreless tissue program. Both programs reduce landfill waste by an estimated 363,000 pounds per year.
Also in 2010, all tractor-trailers are equipped with tire inflation devices, auxiliary power units and piloting wide-based tires. The technology reduces fuel consumption by the fleet.
For current Exchange sustainability initiatives, click here.
Sources: Exchange Post archives, ShopMyExchange.com, https://www.earthday.org
