2020 marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day in America. This momentous occasion has us asking some questions at Three Sixty. How far have we come? What are we doing to keep the movement going? What will we do next to make the planet a better place?

On April 22, 1970 nearly 10% of the U.S. population at the time took to the streets, college campuses and hundreds of cities to protest environmental ignorance. The first Earth Day is credited with launching what is now recognized as the planet’s largest civic event.

Earthday.org

Our Founding Commitment to Sustainability

At Three Sixty, sustainability is one of our founding commitments. For our company, being in business is not only about efficiency and operating costs. We also feel the impact on a deeper level. By fostering better communication, better peer to peer relationships, better technology, better service and better use of resources, we believe we will make our industry as a whole, well, BETTER! 

We have always implemented sustainable office practices. All of our offices recycle. We use recycled paper products. We implement cutting edge technology solutions in order to minimize paper use. And we are always looking for ways to do more. It’s important to us to lessen the direct impact our business has on the environment.

Lake Martin is a special place

Started in 1923 and completed in 1926, the purpose of this man-made 44,000 acre reservoir is to create power for the Alabama Power Company. But what it represents is so much more. Lake Martin is home to goats, eagles’ nests, deer and many species of fish, frogs and snakes.

Lake Martin is located in a very rural area of Alabama and has a ton of transient visitors. That being the case, not all who visit honor our state motto to “Keep Alabama Beautiful.”

Honoring Earth Day, by Taking to the Streets

In 2017, we started an office at Lake Martin with a small group of agents. In 2019 we built a permanent home for them in Dadeville, just south of Niffer’s Place and Lakeside Marina. Our team lives and works at the lake. We felt that hosting our first annual lake clean-up day would be a great way to honor Earth Day and make a difference in this lovely community.

This year everything is different because of the effects of the coronavirus crisis. But we decided a second annual Earth Day lake clean-up day would still be a great way to show our commitment to sustainability and this community. We also knew we’d be able to find a safe way for people to participate. This time we focused on a major area of the lake that gets tons of traffic. With a sheriff’s department escort and social distancing guidelines in place, we made it work because it’s important to us. 

We plan to continue this tradition into the future! We look forward to finding other ways for our team to take to the streets and honor this special day.

How can you help?

Interested in how you can honor Earth Day? Check out this article for 10 things you can do in your daily life that will make a real difference!