In celebration of Earth Day 2016, Guaranty is following this year’s global theme of ”Trees for the Earth”, with a worldwide goal of planting 7.8 billion trees by the year 2020. There are a lot of benefits to planting more trees around the world, but combating climate change and creating clean air for breathing are just a couple of reasons why we at Guaranty are joining this year’s initiative by offering to plant more trees in our local community.
To kick off our own Trees for the Earth campaign, our President, Shannon Nill, and other local dignitaries, will join in a “tree hugging” event, at our own Heritage Century Tree, to showcase our community-wide efforts in celebrating Earth Day. Following our tree hugging event, anyone who stops by Guaranty between April 22nd – May 1st will receive their own fir tree sapling to plant wherever they please. Join us in planting trees for the Earth and watch as your own sapling grows throughout the years! You will receive specific instructions along with your sapling, so don’t worry if you’re not a professional arborist, anyone can plant their own tree!
As one of the first businesses in Lane County to receive the Green Certification for Environmental Stewardship, Guaranty prides itself on creating and maintaining an energy-efficient environment throughout our dealerships. Between the use of solar panel energy, LED lighting, recycling programs and a handful of employees driving electric cars, we aim to be as eco-friendly as possible here on our Guaranty properties. Installed in 2006, the Travel Center houses our biggest solar panels. These solar panels equate to almost 100,000 gallons of gasoline over their 35-year lifespan and they produce around $6 thousand worth of electricity per year, which is around a third of the energy used in the building.
Guaranty’s RV Showroom also partially runs on solar energy. The solar panels used on the building are unique in that they don’t require extra racking for mounting purposes and they generate around $2 thousand worth of electricity each year. Similar to the Travel Center solar panels, the energy savings from this system equate to around 35 thousand gallons of gasoline over their lifespan, which is a major reduction in the dealership’s carbon footprint.
We hope that you’ll join us in giving back to the planet by contributing to the worldwide goal of 7.8 billion trees by the year 2020! If you do plant a sapling, take photos and post them on social media with the hashtag #HugATree so we can see your tree thriving!