In April, the Pet Sustainability Coalition (PSC) rallied pet industry professionals to complete thousands of microactions that saved 18,700 tons of CO2 from entering the environment, achieving 124% of the coalition's goal of 15 tons.
With zero cost to participate, its third annual Earth Day Rally 30-day sprint inspired hundreds of individuals to take concrete actions that lead to a better future for pets, people and the planet, PSC noted.
Pet Sustainability Coalition (PSC)
Employing an easy-to-use mobile app called CO2 Hero, the Rally mobilized 730 pet industry professionals from 37 participating companies to engage in 10 daily repeatable eco-actions. The highest impact actions included offsetting business travel, greening the daily commute, recycling, eating plant-based meals and reusing water bottles.
The first place team was awarded a $2,000 PSC Project Credit, and the second place team was awarded $1,000 in carbon offsets from Native Energy. The top four teams were:
- Freshpet (6.76 tons CO2)
- Earth Animal (2.12 tons CO2)
- Austin and Kat (1.39 tons CO2)
- Nulo (1.18 tons CO2)
Top performing individuals were:
- Brett Duewell – Freshpet (1.31 tons CO2)
- Liliana Bolton – Freshpet (1.29 tons CO2)
- Lisa Diehl – Freshpet (2,018 pounds CO2)
- Maria Lange – Earth Animal (1,911 pounds CO2)
- Alexis Vance – W.F. Young (1,754 pounds CO2)
“By eliminating nearly 19 tons of CO2, the pet industry rallied to make a positive impact on our shared world," said Jim Lamancusa, executive director of the Pet Sustainability Coalition. “With Freshpet leading the way, the Pet Sustainability Coalition member network is a force to be reckoned with, posting double-digit growth year after year through its highly engaged community of action-oriented sustainability professionals. By engaging in our 30-day sprint, our participants have built habits that will last a lifetime.”
APPA, WPA and the NAVC have amplified their Rally support through a Matching Gift campaign by donating $25,000 each to match participants’ climate points. Their generous donations are unrestricted gifts to PSC’s Impact Fund. Because of this powerful support, the inspirational actions taken by the participants will translate into a healthier planet all year round by supporting PSC’s industry-leading programming in plastic packaging and sustainable proteins.
Mobilizing the industry to act this Earth Day at zero-cost for all participants is made possible by the generous Defender-level sponsorship of Earth Animal.
“This is our third year of sponsoring and participating in the Earth Day Rally and we get more inspired every year. It is such a fun and easy way to engage and educate the entire Earth Animal team,” said Stephanie Volo, chief impact officer, Earth Animal. “We love the internal drive to outdo our colleagues and tracking our progress against other companies. We are a proud sponsor, knowing that this makes it free for everyone across the industry to participate and that it supports the only such effort of action in the industry.”
