J.M. Rodgers Co., Inc.  2020 Green Initiative

We are happy to announce that JM Rodgers is kicking off our Green Initiative! Our goal is to become a sustainable and environmentally conscious company by reviewing our best practices for environmental impact as part of our overall commitment to continuous improvement.

Our primary initiative will be to plant trees as a company!  There is no better way for us to directly impact our environment than to plant trees.  For 2020 our goal is to plant 5,000 trees, and in the coming weeks we will be sending out more information to outline how we will achieve this goal. This goal will be achieved both through donations and volunteer work of our staff.

The following are items which we are immediately changing internally to keep our commitment to ‘green’ (by the numbers):

• 100% recycling of all eligible materials at our offices to their final destination.
• 100% elimination of single-use Styrofoam and paper cups for coffee and tea by supplying ceramic cups for all, and mandating reusables be used in the office.
• 100% elimination of plastic straws by supplying metal straws to all employees
• 25% less plane travel – Instead of taking planes to single appointments, whenever possible we will be optimizing our travel and sales calls to see multiple customers in similar geographic areas to cut down on the energy used for travel.
• 20% less paper – Customs brokerage can be a paper-heavy industry, but by the simple change of scanning our copies as opposed to printing up the paper for files, the amount of paper usage will be curbed immensely.
• 10% less energy for heating – By determining optimal temperatures and keeping them consistent, we can more effectively use our heat only when needed.
• 15% less energy for air conditioning through the use of smart monitors for temperatures that will allow perfect control for differing weather, off-hours, and weekends.

Additionally, we are taking some further small steps to eliminate the additional waste that we produce in our offices:

• Mandating our cleaning services use environmentally friendly products.
• Commitment to using recycled materials, such as paper, whenever feasible.
• Initiatives to reduce overall water usage.
• Removal of single-use coffee machines due to their high waste production.
• Recycling of all e-waste through environmentally friendly vendors.
• Ensuring all monitors are energy-efficient LED models
• Upgrading our HVAC Systems with energy-efficient systems

Over the last several years we have made a point to include organizations that center the environment in their activism. In 2019 we gave to the following 12 environmentally-focused organizations:

• Conservation Fund
• Reeves Reed Arboretum
• World Resources Institute
• Water Mission
• Rainforest Trust
• Texas Park & Wildlife Foundation
• California Community Foundation
• California Fire Foundation
• Acadia Center
• Appalachian Voices
• Blue Ridge Conservancy
• Rural Advancement Foundation International – USA

Today we have added eight more to our list:

• 350.org
• Conservation International
• Land Trust Alliance
• National Audubon Society
• Natural Resources Defense Council
• Oceana
• Sierra Club Foundation
• Waterkeeper Alliance

This brings us up to a grand total of 20 organizations JM Rodgers supports, and we will continue to make a concerted effort to support more organizations like this in the future.

We will be providing quarterly updates for our green initiative for this year.  We are excited to kick this initiative off and have a green 2020!

If you have any questions, please contact www.jmrodgers.com

Sincerely, James Rodgers