Earth Day 2022

Happy Earth Day! 

This sentiment makes me smile because it means we are showing gratitude, appreciation, and taking steps to protect our home: our planet. Today, I write words from a place of hope and joy, from a place of stillness, and from a place of happiness, because we are all working towards the same goal-–to protect our planet, clean it up, restore it, refresh it–because IT MATTERS. And we are all making a difference.

This week is about making a difference. It’s about having faith in the work that is being done and the work that will be done.  It is about having faith in the promise that we can all rise to the occasion. It is about taking action, together.

To me, Earth Day is about beginning again.  It’s about refocusing on what we must do, should do, and are doing collectively to protect our planet, our home. It is about new conversations, new actions, a new outlook and another chance to get this right.  How blessed we are to live on this Earth and to have an opportunity to give back.  We all should be grateful to be able to choose to do the right thing, to do better.

This week, think about your potential and the potential of those around you. Commit to taking care of the planet because it takes care of you.  As a community, we have great power to tend to ourselves, each other and the planet.  As Arianna Huffington has been known to say, “Burned out people will burn out the planet.” “We can no longer ignore the connection between how we’re burning ourselves out and how we’re burning up the planet. Let’s connect the dots between a sustainable planet and living sustainable lives.”

All of us have an opportunity to do better, be better, and to grow a deeper appreciation for the planet. I am struck this week by many things, but the words Elon Musk used last week to explain his desire to buy Twitter resonated with me: “Twitter has extraordinary potential. I’ll unlock it.”  We all have amazing potential to make better decisions and thankfully this potential to do better is up to us.

For our part, we are increasing our commitment to sustainability and well-being of people and the planet. In addition, with every garden sold March – May 2022, we will have a tree planted through One Tree Planted.com.

Every day, we think about how to expand the well-being impact of our work, and that includes taking bold new steps toward a sustainable future and the wellness of our planet.

It is imperative we think holistically and critically about how our actions personally and as a brand affect the world around us. We are focused on our environmental responsibility, building on work we’ve been doing, and setting ambitious targets for the future. 

Lana Constantine, our Vice President of Operational Logistics, emphasizes the connection between past and present “We think about sustainability and our entire supply chain. Our first step was to journey our global footprint and then begin our commitment to reducing the footprint over the next few years. We want to help our customers make responsible choices, so we’ll be introducing a full upcycling program that involves turning old grow bags into new grow bags or products that aid in the container gardening growing cycle.  It is an innovative and creative way for us to work with our customers to reduce the negative environmental impact. 

Across all our work, we know we need to listen with the intent to react. This is a shared opportunity for sustainability.  At Gardenuity, we are all committed to the journey of creating gardens and gardening experiences that are good for people and the planet.

Let’s collectively find ways to say thank you to our planet–to Mother Earth and all who are working tirelessly on its behalf.  

Growing together,

Donna Letier and the entire Gardenuity Team