Did you know that today is Earth Day? Every year on April 22, the world celebrates this secular holiday. At Able Freight, it’s an opportunity to brainstorm new ways to lower our environmental impact while commemorating our employees’ hard work and commitment to the cause.

The first Earth Day took place on April 22, 1970, to commemorate the beginnings of the environmental movement. It was initially intended to raise awareness on college campuses about deteriorating environmental conditions, but organizers decided to make Earth Day a national event shortly into the planning process.

It worked. Twenty million Americans took to the streets to rally against environmental abuse. Groups who spanned the spectrum of political views, economic backgrounds, and professions came together for one cause.

Fast forward 50 years and Earth Day has become the most significant secular holiday. Every year, it reaches 1 billion people in 193 countries.

In 1970, Earth Day rallies addressed deforestation and toxic dumps. In 2022, the main concern is global warming. One of the calls of Earth Day 2022 is to invest in green technology that doesn’t contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. The theme for this year is Invest in Our Planet.

Fortunately, that’s happening in the supply chain. A few weeks ago, we wrote about the impact of carbon emissions on logistics. As our last blog post explained, passenger and freight transportation made up a combined 29% of carbon emissions in 2019. A sobering report from the EIA shows that in 2018, transportation was responsible for 8.26 gigatons of carbon emissions globally.

These aren’t numbers that we’re happy with, so we’re actively devising strategies to lower our carbon footprint, and we aren’t the only ones.

A report from the Boston Consulting Group predicts that the supply chain as a whole will have to drop its carbon emissions by 50% by 2030, or else we risk pushing the temperature of the planet even higher.

How Able Freight Invests in the Environment

Able Freight is on it. Last year, we partnered with AirFrance KLM MartinAir Cargo to participate in their sustainable aviation fuel initiative. Through this program, we’re using alternatives to fossil fuels on selected flight paths, which will lower our carbon emissions for these lanes by up to 52%.

Another program that we’re so proud of is Plastic Free ‘23. Did you know that plastics were recently discovered in human blood for the first time? That’s right. Plastic microparticles are so jam-packed into our air and water that they’ve leaked into our bloodstream, where they could cause cancer and heart disease. According to the study authors, this phenomenon maybe happening in up to 80% of adults. Apologies if you read this while eating lunch.

Anyway, we can’t be aware of the damage caused by free-floating plastics without doing something about it. So, based on the United Nations’ Sustainable Goals, we plan to ditch all consumable plastics in our office by the end of 2023.

These aren’t our only plans in the works either - keep your eyes peeled for reports on our expanded recycling program and electric vehicle usage coming soon!

Sustainability isn’t the easiest topic to tackle. It requires a lot of innovation, investment, creativity, elbow grease, and teamwork. But we’re not intimidated. Able Freight is excited to join the 1 billion-plus people celebrating Earth Day this year.