Staff at Derbyshire chemical company Lubrizol UK promised to cut household energy and make space for wildlife when they joined their colleagues from all over the world in an online event held to mark this year’s Earth Day.
Colleagues at the company, based in Hazelwood, volunteered ways in which they will help to save the planet when they took part in an international internet broadcast beamed live to more than 20,000 fellow employees working at Lubrizol’s other premises overseas.
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This year saw the 50th anniversary of the Earth Day event, which took place on April 22 and was organised by the Earth Day Network, a worldwide consortium of individuals and organisations who work together to demand environmental reform.
Lubrizol, whose global headquarters are based in Wickcliffe, USA, brought its entire company together via the work-sharing online platform YAMmA and arranged a series of hour-long broadcasts in each of its territories, with people in sending their pledges and having them read out on-air.
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The events formed a relay, starting in its Asia Pacific region, followed by Europe and India, then Latin America, the east cost of the USA and Canada and, finally, the west coast.
Staff at different locations in each territory acted as moderators to read out people’s pledges and Hazelwood was represented by lab technician Carolyn Spencer-Kerridge, who was online alongside colleagues from Lubrizol premises in Huddersfield, Gava in Spain and Dahej in India.
It was the first time that Carolyn had taken part in such an event and said it was an inspiring way to bring everyone together to think about the future of the planet – and take their minds off the coronavirus outbreak for a while.
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She said: “I was a bit nervous at first, but I really enjoyed it and was really impressed by the way that people got involved and pledged to help change the world.
“We had lots of different ideas from staff at Hazelwood, including turning down their heating by a degree to promising to hang out their washing instead of using a tumble dryer, creating a wildlife haven in their gardens or fitting solar panels.
“It was really refreshing to talk about something else for a while and, although everyone is understandably still preoccupied with the coronavirus outbreak, I hope that after sharing their pledges, they will now carry out their promises in order to make a difference.”
Lubrizol prides itself on its commitment to helping the environment and not only does its Hazelwood site operate a zero to landfill waste policy, it also works with Derbyshire Wildlife Trust to help encourage nature to thrive on its premises.
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