Zebra has been thinking about heroes a lot lately, including the workers using our solutions on the front lines, to our employees, partners and customers who work to get our solutions into the hands of workers who are in essential roles. Each day, we pause to express our enormous gratitude for everyone involved in keeping our business and other essential businesses running. In fact, you can find many Zebras at home sewing masks or using 3D printers to create face shields to supplement personal protective equipment (PPE) and show appreciation for the heroic efforts put forth day in and day out by doctors, nurses, delivery drivers, store associates, restaurateurs, public safety professionals and warehouse workers.
Over the last few weeks, though, we’ve also asked employees to pause and reflect on what’s happening around the world from an environmental perspective. The COVID-19 outbreak has brought to light the impact that humans have on the planet’s health. It has become clearer than ever that we must take tangible action to protect the environment, even as we’re protecting ourselves from COVID-19.
Because environmental sustainability is one of Zebra’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) priorities, and we take current social distancing directives very seriously, we decided to celebrate Earth Day 2020 by inviting Zebra employees and their new “colleagues” (i.e. family members) to create posters encouraging people to mobilize around this year’s global theme: Climate Action. Both the theme – set annually by the Earth Day Network – and our poster contest were aimed at raising awareness about the climate crisis and the opportunity we have to reach a zero-carbon future.
We had several creative, meaningful entries from around the world, and it was nearly impossible to select just three to showcase. But we think you will understand why these particular posters stood out to us.
First up is Ananya Pandey, a Zebra employee in Bangalore, India, who used the challenge to introduce us to the person who she believes is Earth’s top hero: you!
As you can see in Ananya’s winning poster, there are many ways we as individuals can change the way we live to positively impact our environment: avoiding plastic, conserving power and going organic, to name a few. The message in Ananya’s poster is clear – there is no Planet B.
We understand that individuals are not solely responsible for protecting our planet, which is why Zebra – along with our manufacturing partners – are members of the Responsible Business Alliance. As a result of the climate action efforts of our eco-conscious Zebra employees, we have made great progress towards reducing our energy consumption and increasing our recycling waste in Zebra facilities.
The second winner of our contest, Carolyn Tinsman in Austin, Texas, turned words into art as she encouraged us to “Plant trees, Save the bees, Recycle please, Clean the seas.”
When we began planning Zebra’s Earth Day activities more than four months ago, our local Community Relations teams and Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) specialists brainstormed many ways in which we could “Initiate Climate Action” and “Rescue Earth” (abbreviated to “I CARE” in Carolyn’s poster).
Not surprisingly, our plans have changed. We are now focused on the health and safety of our employees globally while maintaining business continuity during this challenging time. Something the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated is how interconnected we are globally and how our actions or inactions can impact the global population. The same is true for our impact on the environment. An unintended effect of COVID-19 is the dramatic decrease in air pollution and greenhouse gases across continents.
Speaking of continents… the third winner of our contest, Hannah Jefferys in Bourne End, United Kingdom, gave us a continental breakfast of geographic-specific actions we can take to improve the environment’s health – from avoiding drilling in Antarctica to protecting Australia’s human and wildlife population from bushfires.
The good news that many of the calls to action made via these posters are already being heeded by a herd of Zebras around the world.
Our employees (and many environmental stewards outside of Zebra) have taken the initiative to clean up while on walks, plant vegetable gardens at home and educate themselves on the current environmental crisis by watching climate-focused documentaries like A Plastic Ocean (2017) and Chasing Coral (2017). So, even though Zebra’s originally planned Earth Day environmental activities are delayed until a time when we can all participate in them safely, we continue to uphold our commitment to climate action. Together, we’re proving it’s still possible to do good – to make a significant global impact – from a distance.
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Would you like to learn more about Zebra’s global environmental, economic or social sustainability efforts? Check out our Corporate Social Responsibility page on zebra.com.
You can also learn more about Zebra’s ongoing CSR efforts by catching up on these recent blog posts:
The “Your Edge” Blog Team is comprised of content curators and editors from Zebra’s Global PR, Thought Leadership and Advocacy team. Our goal is to connect you with the industry experts best-versed on the issues, trends and solutions that impact your business. We will collectively deliver critical news analysis, exclusive insights on the state of your industry, and guidance on how your organization can leverage a number of different proven technology platforms and strategies to capture your edge.