Posts within ‘Boots With Roots: Tree Planting’
Who Needs An Angry Bird When You’ve Got a 6 Inch Boot?
Bad weather, bad cold, bad day … we can appreciate that even the most hardcore outdoor enthusiast needs some down time inside once in a while. Check out the new Games section on our website, where you can take quizzes to find out what kind of tree personality you have (sturdy oak or flirty palm?) and what your packing habits say about you.
If quizzes aren’t your thing, try the bottle crusher game: Using the hard core soles of your virtual boots to destroy as many plastic bottles as you can is dangerously addictive.
Those of you looking for games with greater goodness, check out our Earthkeepers virtual forest. You create the forest, invite your friends to join you there, and plant virtual trees. For every tree you plant in the virtual forest, you’ll help Timberland plant a real tree in Haiti. And isn’t that better than any trinket you ever won at the arcade?
Click here. Play now. It’s all fun and games until the next snowstorm takes your power out.
Earthkeeping Pledges Aplenty at Sundance
The scene at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival hasn’t been all snow and celebrities (although apparently there’s been loads of both) … at the Timberland booth, festival-goers are invited to make their own personal pledge to help preserve the environment and protect the outdoors. Here’s Amanda with a show and tell:
And, here are more of our favorite pledges that have come in at Sundance so far:
Inspired to make your own Earthkeeping pledge? Share it with us here. And stay tuned … the curtain doesn’t close at the Sundance Film Festival for a few more days, and we’ve got lots more to share. You can find additional videos and photos from our Timberland team’s Sundance experience on the Festivals page of our website.
NH Earthkeepers: We Want Your Earth Day Projects!
Although it’s hard to imagine while we’re in still in the clutches of winter, spring is only a few months away … and with spring comes Earth Day. Every year, Timberland employees across the globe pull on their boots to make a positive impact on their local communities and the environment, and we’re gearing up to make Earth Day 2012 better than ever.
Here at Timberland’s headquarters in New Hampshire, we’re seeking Earth Day projects that will contribute to the regreening of our local communities — tree planting, creating community gardens, building and maintaining trail systems — anything that will help people explore and enjoy the outdoors we care so much about.
Interested? Click here to download the RFP for Timberland’s 2012 Earth Day projects. The deadline to submit RFPs is January 25th (so get moving!).
If you don’t live in New Hampshire and are interested in helping Timberland make a difference in your community this Earth Day, check in with your local Timberland store.
Timberland Haiti and President Clinton: Remembering and Rebuilding
Timberland’s vice president of supply chain, Gareth Brooks, shared the following update with the Timberland community today. 2 years after the Haiti earthquake, our commitment to helping that nation rebuild continues.
On Wednesday, just one day before the 2nd anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti, I had the honor of hosting former President Bill Clinton at our new factory there. He came, along with staff from The Clinton Foundation, to raise awareness for the continued need for economic development in Haiti – and today, January 12, he’ll attend memorial services for the victims.
Former President Clinton at Timberland's factory in Haiti
Two years later, the country is still devastated by the effect of the earthquake and governmental efforts to rebuild are progressing slowly. Timberland has opened a factory in Haiti not only because it makes good commercial sense, but also because it supports our commitment to community. We’re making products that require specific skills to create, and we’re providing the extensive training required to do so; Haiti doesn’t have a heritage of shoemaking, but our dedicated Haitian staff have demonstrated a willingness to learn.
Handstitchers at work
Since the factory opened in June, we have recruited and trained nearly 150 employees to make handsewn uppers. Our expansion within the facility continues, and next spring we plan to open our first cut-to-box manufacturing line which will produce our first “Made In Haiti” classic handsewns.
Handstitched upper, made in Haiti
In addition to creating jobs and training people to fill them, Timberland also has a significant agro-forestry program in Haiti that combines tree planting and farmer education in a way that is community-managed, self-financed and replicable. Three hundred local farmers volunteer to operate the tree nurseries that supply trees for food, fuel and building material. And, the program is designed to develop each nursery to be self-sustaining after 3 years. Our program has already resulted in almost 2 million trees planted in Haiti; in one of the most deforested nations in the world, the importance of trees can’t be underestimated.
I was proud to join our team in Haiti yesterday, as they shared with President Clinton this amazing facility and the progress we’re making in both manufacturing great products and engaging in the local community.
Reflections on Service
The following post comes from Alan Jones, one of the Timberland service sabbatical recipients who spent a week in Louisiana last month working on a large-scale restoration project. Turns out, the project’s impact extends far beyond the wetlands where Alan and his companions worked:
Since returning from the sabbatical, friends and family have asked me to explain the experience and how it impacted me. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever been able to express it in a way that does justice, and I don’t know if I ever will.
Imagine this:
Get off a plane and shake hands with 30 or so faces you’ve never met.
Spend the next 8 days and nights with these people in comfortable (but tight) quarters.
Meet locals and taste the flavor of an incredible culture deep in the Mississippi Delta and swamplands and learn that the fastest land erosion in the world is happening in your country and at the rate of 2 football fields every hour.
Learn that 40% of our fishing industry is supported by this eroding ecosystem, and that one small nonprofit has been given the green light by the government to make it better.
Spend the rest of the week working with a team to rebuild a 5-acre site that will protect another 20 acres of marshland from saltwater intrusion and land loss.
Learn that this project is the largest implementation of it’s kind, and if successful will serve as the pilot program and catalyst for future restoration efforts.
Connect to people and land in a way you did not think possible, then bid them farewell, knowing that although you knew them not for long, you knew them well.
Realize that, in addition to the thousands of trees and grasses planted in the bayou, there is something unexpected growing inside upon your return.
What did I take away from this sabbatical?
to plant.
to grow.
to laugh.
to live.
Spreading Cheer with the Gila River Indian Community
Timberland is a company steeped in tradition, embracing a bond with the outdoors and a commitment to giving back to the community. On December 8th, more than 100 employees had the good fortune to experience a heritage dating back more than 150 years when our community service event brought us to the Gila River Indian Community, which is home to the Pima and Maricopa tribes, to spread some holiday cheer.
We teamed up with the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa and Tribal Social Services to throw a fun-filled Christmas festival with nearly 300 children, decorating cookies, stockings and snowflakes, enjoying horseback rides and a trip to the Koli Equestrian Center, planting trees and snacking on holiday treats throughout – a natural crowd pleaser!
The gumdrop on top – a visit from Mr. and Mrs. Claus brought each boy and girl a special gift from their very own Christmas lists, while a special group from our team gave the Gila River Indian Community Orphanage a fresh coat of paint, landscaped the yards and assembled bicycles for all of its residents. What a Christmas surprise!
As a newbie to the Timberland team, it was amazing to be a part of such a special event where communities unite to kindle the Christmas spirit, bring smiles to children’s faces and feel the yuletide joy that can only come from Santa, his elves and a few cheery gingerbread men!
Serv-a-palooza India
On October 4th, Team Timberland in India celebrated our annual global service initiative Serv-a-palooza by creating a clean, healthy outdoor play space for the PIA Child Care Centre in Bangalore. The PIA Centre is located within the Peenya Industrial Area – one of the largest in Asia and home to more than 3500 companies and industries. The PIA Centre provides much-needed child care for many parents working within the industrial area.
Together with NGO partner Manav Charities, 35 volunteers spent the day cleaning and clearing the land around the PIA Centre; laying grass and planting trees and shrubs; and installing play equipment for the children.
Preparing the ground for grass
Volunteers laying grass
Planting outside the PIA Centre
New play area
Our thanks to Timberland India for making this outdoor space more useful and enjoyable for the families of the PIA Centre!
Sustainable Impact, Cajun Style
Timberland’s service sabbatical recipients Alan Jones and Heather Jackson shared the following from their week-long environmental restoration project in Louisiana. Our thanks to Alan and Heather for taking time out from their daily lives and duties to be a part of this powerful team and its inspiring results!
In Good Company 2011, courtesy of Anne Hamersky
Wow. We did it! Nearly 5 acres of dissolving beach transformed into a landscape of Gulf Saver Bags sprouting mangroves and spartina grass!
That’s five acres of restored wetlands that have the chance to spread and expand, reducing coastal erosion, mitigating hurricane storm surges, creating wildlife habitat, stabilizing shipping routes, and enhancing the economic and cultural life of Deep Delta Louisiana. Collectively, we have impacted the Gulf Coast in a powerfully positive way.
THANK YOU for your immense effort and thanks to all your respective companies for sponsoring you on this community service experience. May you all find inspiration in the incredible week we shared and continue to generate ripples of positive change in your communities.
- Anne Hamersky and the In Good Company planning team
30 Seconds to Mars Fans Give the Gift that Keeps on Growing
Musician / actor Jared Leto’s list of accomplishments runs long and impressive – appearing in films like Fight Club and American Psycho, starring in the TV series My So-Called Life, serving as lead singer for the band 30 Seconds to Mars. And now another achievement: next month, Jared turns 40!
In honor of his milestone birthday, the 30 Seconds to Mars fan club, The Echelon, is giving the gift that keeps on giving: the group is encouraging fans to make a donation in Jared’s honor to Trees for the Future in support of Timberland’s Yele Vert tree planting program in Haiti. (Jared lived in Haiti as a child, and is actively involved in the ongoing relief efforts in the wake of the country’s 2010 earthquake.) The tax deductible donation program runs until December 22. $1,300 has been donated by 30 Seconds to Mars fans since the October 21 launch of the campaign.
One of our favorite actor/singers and one of our favorite initiatives … we couldn’t imagine a better birthday present. To get in on Jared’s gift, visit the Echelon Donates website. To learn more about our Yele Vert reforestation program in Haiti, visit the tree planting section of our website.
Tree Planting in Bangladesh
Timberland’s Code of Conduct team works to ensure fair and safe working conditions inside the factories where our products are made, as well as positive living conditions beyond factory walls. In the course of their important work, they often uncover inspirational stories – like this one, which comes from a Timberland supplier in Bangladesh:
In July 2011, Timberland footwear supplier Bangladesh Pou Hung (BPH) launched a massive tree plantation initiative, called ‘Plant Trees and Save Environment.’ Under this initiative the BPH has already started to plant trees at its factory premises and all around the BEPZA trade zones (Bangladesh export processing zone authority).
BPH launched this tree planting initiative with the realization that tree planting is something positive for the environment that everyone can do; there’s no big budget to plant a tree, and its returns are valuable and sustainable.
We’re proud to partner with suppliers like Pou Hung that are committed to taking positive action for the environment, and inspiring others to do the same!
