Tag: 3BL

More than four years ago we made a commitment — through The Clorox Company Foundation — to help fight racism and inequality. Some of our financial commitment goes toward supporting Equal Justice Works fellows like Darby Aono-Shek. Darby is working with UnCommon Law to help older incarcerated people, many of whom are Black and Latinx, challenge their illegal parole denials.

Tell me a little bit about the organization where you work and what it does.

I work at an organization called UnCommon Law. We’re based in Oakland, and we fight to ensure that people who are incarcerated in California have access to healing, justice and effective legal representation as they seek release through the parole hearing process. Our attorneys use trauma-informed legal counseling to unpack the underlying factors that contributed to a person’s crime and help them prepare a safe pathway home from prison.

In addition to representing people at parole hearings, UnCommon Law uses litigation to challenge illegal parole denials and address systemic issues within the parole system. We also partner with legislators, community members, impacted families, and loved ones to support legislation that advances the freedom and well-being of incarcerated people.

How did you become involved in this field?

I’ve always known that I wanted to work with people in prison, but I didn’t know anything about California’s parole process until my first year of law school, when I took a class taught by UnCommon Law founder and executive director Keith Wattley.

It didn’t take long for me to fall in love with UnCommon Law’s work. As part of Keith’s class, each student was paired with an incarcerated person who was navigating the parole process. I was in awe of the strength, courage and vulnerability that people showed going through the process. I thought, “How many attorneys get to learn from and feel inspired by their clients every day? I’d be the luckiest attorney in the world.”

I interned with UnCommon Law during my second year of law school, and I joined the team full-time as an Equal Justice Works legal fellow in 2022.

What are some examples of the challenges that UnCommon Law’s clients have faced?

In California, the parole board holds an extraordinary amount of power over people’s lives with limited oversight to ensure that it wields that power legally. As a result, in some situations the parole board denies parole for illegal reasons, keeping people in prison for years beyond when the law says they should have been released.

For example, the parole board denied parole to a 69-year-old woman suffering from Parkinson’s, early dementia and memory loss from an assault where she was knocked unconscious. Due to her memory issues, she often took pauses while answering the parole board’s questions. The parole board denied her parole, claiming that her difficulty answering questions was proof that she was “manipulative” and “lacking in sincerity.”

In California, parole denials must be challenged through habeas corpus petitions (a legal challenge to one’s imprisonment), but there is no right to habeas counsel for these cases. As a result, pro se litigants (people who represent themselves without an attorney) provide a primary check on the parole board, but systemic barriers and a lack of support make it virtually impossible for most people to do so.

How has your work addressed those challenges?

My fellowship is focused on helping older people who are incarcerated challenge their illegal parole denials. I’m taking a two-pronged approach to accomplishing this: 1) assuming a caseload through direct representation; and 2) focusing on the many people who have been denied parole but don’t have access to counsel.

I’m developing a comprehensive guide to filing habeas petitions without an attorney that will be available to people across California prisons. That way, more people can feel empowered to hold the parole board accountable, even if they can’t afford an attorney.

In line with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI’s) commitment to provide the global common language for sustainability reporting, seven translations of GRI 14: Mining Sector 2024 have been published. In addition to English, the Mining Standard can be freely downloaded in Simplified Chinese, French, German, Indonesian, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish. Further translations – in Italian, Arabic and Traditional Chinese – will be made available soon.

GRI 14, the first global transparency standard for responsible mining, addresses the pressing need for consistent, granular and complete reporting on the sector’s wide-ranging impacts and contributions to sustainable development. Launched in February of this year, it is the fourth addition to GRI’s Sector Standards series and enters into effect for reporting on 1 January 2026.

Applicable to any organization operating in mining and quarrying, GRI 14 enables them to use a common set of metrics to disclose their impacts. The Mining Standard:

Sheds light on the dual nature of the mining sector: providing essential minerals and metals that society relies on, while having significant impacts on the environment, communities and workers.Sets expectations for site-level transparency that reflect local impacts, to help stakeholders assess impacts and risks by location and specific minerals.Covers critical themes that range from emissions to waste, human rights to land and resource rights, climate change to biodiversity, anti-corruption to community engagement.Introduces three topics not previously addressed by GRI, yet specifically relevant to mining firms: tailings management, artisanal and small-scale mining, and operating in conflict zones.

GRI thanks the peer reviewers who contributed their time on a voluntary basis to ensure the accuracy and usability of these translations, expanding the accessibility of the world’s most widely used sustainability reporting standards.

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is the independent, international organization that helps businesses and other organizations take responsibility for their impacts, by providing the global common language to report those impacts. The GRI Standards are the world’s most widely used sustainability reporting standards, which are developed through a multi-stakeholder process and provided as a free public good.

WASHINGTON, August 30, 2024 /3BL/ – The World Environment Center (WEC) has released a summary of its recent Members Forum on the status of the Global Plastics Treaty. The discussion, which took place online on June 26, included 19 of WEC member companies representing various industries, and featured Dr. Jihane Ball, Lead Global Sustainability Director at Dow, who provided background into the treaty.

The Global Plastics Treaty was approved at the fifth session of the UN Environmental Assembly in 2022, a historic resolution seeking to end plastics pollution worldwide. Between 2001 and 2019, plastics production worldwide has doubled, with only 7% being recycled and 15% leaking into nature. Due to the widespread impact of plastics pollution, a global approach like this treaty is necessary to address this issue.

During the Members Forum, Frank Werner, Director of Global Thought Leadership and WEC Europe, moderated a discussion with WEC members and Dr. Ball about the role of industry in the Global Plastics Treaty, as well as the need to educate the business sector about how global companies can invest in circularity. The newly released summary highlights four key insights corporations can gain from the conversation, as well as resources for further education:

The most effective agreement will focus on areas with the most alignment, e.g. to address waste management infrastructure in areas where it is lacking.For the global plastics treaty to be effective, it must include as many countries as possible, including high plastics producers and countries with high amounts of leakage into nature.Circularity is a valuable solution to plastics pollution, and a well-designed global agreement could be a catalyst for waste reduction.Several organizations that produce, use and recycle plastics have partnered under the Global Partners for Plastics Circularity to educate negotiators about efficient strategies to make the agreement effective,

Read the full summary here.

About WEC:

The World Environment Center advances sustainable development through corporate business practices. Headquartered in Washington, D.C. with offices in Europe and Latin America, WEC advances corporate sustainability leadership through its global executive roundtable on key challenges and opportunities, builds capacity of small enterprises in emerging markets, and honors industry excellence through its annual Gold Medal Award. WEC is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization. For more information, please visit www.wec.org.

WASHINGTON, August 30, 2024 /3BL/ – The World Environment Center (WEC) has released a summary of its recent Members Forum on the status of the Global Plastics Treaty. The discussion, which took place online on June 26, included 19 of WEC member companies representing various industries, and featured Dr. Jihane Ball, Lead Global Sustainability Director at Dow, who provided background into the treaty.

The Global Plastics Treaty was approved at the fifth session of the UN Environmental Assembly in 2022, a historic resolution seeking to end plastics pollution worldwide. Between 2001 and 2019, plastics production worldwide has doubled, with only 7% being recycled and 15% leaking into nature. Due to the widespread impact of plastics pollution, a global approach like this treaty is necessary to address this issue.

During the Members Forum, Frank Werner, Director of Global Thought Leadership and WEC Europe, moderated a discussion with WEC members and Dr. Ball about the role of industry in the Global Plastics Treaty, as well as the need to educate the business sector about how global companies can invest in circularity. The newly released summary highlights four key insights corporations can gain from the conversation, as well as resources for further education:

The most effective agreement will focus on areas with the most alignment, e.g. to address waste management infrastructure in areas where it is lacking.For the global plastics treaty to be effective, it must include as many countries as possible, including high plastics producers and countries with high amounts of leakage into nature.Circularity is a valuable solution to plastics pollution, and a well-designed global agreement could be a catalyst for waste reduction.Several organizations that produce, use and recycle plastics have partnered under the Global Partners for Plastics Circularity to educate negotiators about efficient strategies to make the agreement effective,

Read the full summary here.

About WEC:

The World Environment Center advances sustainable development through corporate business practices. Headquartered in Washington, D.C. with offices in Europe and Latin America, WEC advances corporate sustainability leadership through its global executive roundtable on key challenges and opportunities, builds capacity of small enterprises in emerging markets, and honors industry excellence through its annual Gold Medal Award. WEC is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization. For more information, please visit www.wec.org.

If you ask Anne Bertelsmann where she’s from and how she ended up at Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC), be prepared for an intriguing story. As a principal process safety engineer at MPC and Distinguished Examination Service Award winner for the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES), she’s been dedicated to the profession of engineering for most of her life.

Bertelsmann was born in Harare, Zimbabwe, where her parents were working temporarily. She grew up in Berlin, Germany, and spent a year as an exchange student in Owasso, Oklahoma. She returned to Germany to finish high school and attended the Technical University of Berlin. That’s when she witnessed the fall of the Berlin wall.

“I attended President Ronald Reagan’s famous 1987 speech in Berlin,” said Bertelsmann. “‘Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!’ It may have been over 35 years ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday.”

After two years at the Technical University of Berlin, she transferred to the University of Karlsruhe, where she earned her undergraduate degree in Process Engineering. In 1993, she moved to the U.S. for graduate school at the University of Rochester in New York.

“I wanted to experience a different academic environment and broaden my horizons,” said Bertelsmann. “The University of Rochester offered me both, and I was excited to immerse myself in a new culture and challenge myself in a new setting.”

Life is full of surprises

Bertelsmann originally planned to return to Germany after earning her Master of Science degree in 1996 and doctoral degree in Chemical Engineering in 1997, but fate had other ideas. While attending graduate school in New York, she met her future husband, Igor Kostjuhin.

“Life is full of surprises, and any one event can change its course,” said Bertelsmann.

Her first job after graduate school was at a Bayer chemical plant in Baytown, Texas. The company then moved her to their pharmaceutical division in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she worked with blood plasma products. In 2007, she moved back to Houston, Texas, to join her husband. She was hired by BP at its Texas City facility. Her first role was as the Technical Resource Manager, responsible for hiring and training engineers and managing the intern program.

In 2013, MPC purchased the facility, now known as the Galveston Bay refinery. Bertelsmann continued in the process safety group, where she helped develop MPC’s Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA) program and wrote the standard for it. In her current role as the Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) and LOPA Coordinator, she supports sites with conducting safety studies.

“The Refining Process Safety Management (PSM) group provides tools, consultation, audits and general support for our sites company-wide, helping them develop the necessary safeguards for various process hazards while also training engineers in hazard recognition.”

Leaving her mark

In 2023, Bertelsmann’s expertise was recognized by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES), earning her the Distinguished Examination Service Award for her dedicated service to NCEES and the engineering profession.

NCEES praised her ongoing commitment to advancing engineering licensure. She joined the Principles and Practice of Engineering (PE) Chemical Exam Development Committee in 2001 and began serving in leadership roles in 2008. For the past 15 years, she has held various leadership positions with the nonprofit.

“I didn’t really choose to become a member,” Bertelsmann said. “They found me.”

After graduating with her engineering degree, she aimed to become a licensed professional engineer (PE) to demonstrate competency and expand her future options. While taking the PE exam, she encountered a multiple-choice question with what she could only conclude were all incorrect answers.

“I wrote a letter to NCEES afterward asking them to review the answer in question,” she recalled.

She never received a direct response to her letter, but a few months later, she received an invitation from the exam committee to attend their next meeting.

“My assumption was accurate,” said Bertelsmann. “That questioning along with my high exam score led to me receiving the invite. It also demonstrated to me that NCEES takes examinee feedback seriously, even if it’s their policy not to respond to individual examinees.”

That began her journey with NCEES, traveling to South Carolina for her first exam committee meeting without knowing what to expect.

“I discovered that the committee meets twice a year to write and pre-test questions for the Chemical PE Exam,” she said. “I met engineers who loved taking the PE exam repeatedly. That’s when I realized these were my kind of people.”

That was over 20 years ago, and she has no plans to stop.

“I’ve learned a lot about writing effective test questions and the field of psychometrics (measuring the mind), which validates test questions based on candidate performance, and I find it fascinating,” said Bertelsmann. “I’ve also formed close friendships with other engineers on the committee.”

Her honor from NCEES also acknowledges her advocacy for diversity among committee members.

“We strive for diversity in industry type, employment (public, private, government and academia), subject matter expertise, geographic location, education, gender and more. This ensures the exam isn’t biased, and everyone feels welcome.”

She applies this inclusive outlook to her daily life.

“Solving big problems benefits from thinking outside the box, which isn’t always easy,” she noted. “A diverse team provides the largest box to think in.”

Getting Personal

Family life: Bertelsmann and her husband, Igor Kostjuhin, recently celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. They have four children: Karina, 23, who works at NASA in Maryland; Mark, 22, a student at the University of New Orleans; Dennis, 20, at the University of Texas—Austin; and Lara, 16, a senior at League City High School.

“It’s been so rewarding to watch my children grow and follow their own paths just like I did,” said Bertelsmann. “It’s also nice to have three of them close by, since the rest of my family is still in Germany.”

Hobbies: Rowing, sewing (and other crafts), cooking and baking, traveling

Fun facts: She learned figure skating while in college. “While living and working in Houston, I trained with a coach, participated in recreational competitions and moonlighted as a figure skating instructor. I also have a black belt in Karate. I started Karate with my kids when they were younger and stuck with it after they quit.”

RMI recently released GridUp, a publicly accessible, state-of-the-art tool that helps utilities forecast when and where energy and power demands will materialize from vehicle electrification. The GridUp tool can forecast electric vehicle (EV) power needs at the census-block group level, arming decision makers for the first time with the detailed information they need to quickly, effectively, and confidently upgrade the grid to meet the increasing demand for EV charging infrastructure.

“Fleet electrification requires the cooperation of an entire ecosystem — utilities are as much a part of it as vehicle manufacturers, fleet owners, and charging infrastructure providers.” said Pat Donlon, vice president of Global Vehicles, FedEx. “You can order all the electric vehicles in the world over the next few years, but none of that matters if the grid capacity isn’t there to support charging them. That’s why supporting a tool like GridUp is so vital to help utilities understand and plan for increased electricity needs from having more personal and commercial EVs on the road.”

The transportation sector is already working toward electrification. However, existing US grid infrastructure will be insufficient to support additional electricity demand from future EV charging needs and needed upgrades have long lead times to deploy. This poses a key barrier for fleet operators and charging companies, as well as an emergent challenge for utilities and infrastructure planners: a lack of certainty regarding the specific charging needs EVs will have — when, where, and how much.

“One of the most consequential barriers to widespread transportation electrification is the grid’s ability to reliably provide the power required for vehicle charging,” said Clay Stranger, managing director at RMI. “GridUp addresses this barrier by projecting when and where EVs will need power with granular detail, enabling utilities, cities, and states to make informed planning and investment decisions. This will help provide charging that is equitable, ubiquitous, and available where and when it is needed most.”

For example, GridUp can be used to help utilities forecast:

Which areas will see the largest amounts of EV growth, and what will drive that growth.Areas with a high concentration of medium- and heavy-duty electric truck activity are likely to see some of the largest new demands for electricity.The neighborhood of Cornell in southeast Atlanta, Georgia – where multiple logistics companies have distribution centers or freight depots – may see new loads of up to 7 MW, approximately as much power as the Atlanta Falcons’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium during an NFL gameHow much energy will be needed to support charging in a given area.For example, Grid Up predicts EV charging in Allegheny County, which contains Pittsburgh, will require the equivalent of almost 68,000 single family homes-worth of energy by 2035.For context, Pittsburgh currently has about 160,000 housing units.What kinds of charging locations will need to be built in specific areas.For example, GridUp demonstrates that Crown Heights, a relatively dense part of Brooklyn, mostly requires chargers in public locations and at multi-family homes, while Kew Gardens Hills, a less dense neighborhood of Queens, requires chargers at single-family homes and public locations.

RMI has piloted the GridUp tool since 2021, gaining important insights from utilities and regulators on how to provide the best data for proactive investments in the grid. Below are two quotes from two of the beta users of the GridUp tool:

“RMI’s modeling and load forecasting support allowed us to get a window into a future that will be largely decarbonized, which armed us with the information we needed to develop projects to meet the near-, mid-, and long-term transport electrification needs of key corridors in our service territory.” -Brian Wilkie, Director, Clean Energy Development – Transportation, National Grid NY.

“RMI’s GridUp tool helps us and our local partners make stronger decisions about budget requests, program design, grid distribution plans, and EV-ready building codes. In Washington, we take pride in our role as innovators, and we are pleased to see the cutting-edge work behind our Transportation Electrification Strategy scaled up to a national tool.”

-Steven Hershkowitz, Managing Director for Clean Transportation at the Washington State Department of Commerce.

To learn more about the issues GridUp addresses, check out RMI’s Electrification 101 series.

Click here to learn about FedEx Cares, our global community engagement program.

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Abdelrahman was born in September 2023. The Gaza escalation displaced him and his family from the north of Gaza to Deir Al-Balah, then to Rafah, and then back to Deir Al-Balah again, where he now lives with his family and nine siblings in a makeshift tent made of nylon sheets.

Last month, Abdelrahman’s temperature spiked, followed by vomiting and extreme lethargy. Worried this was not an ordinary illness, his mother worked with health officials to get a stool sample sent to Jordan for testing, and when it came back, the Health Ministry told her that her son was sick with polio. He was the first person to contract polio in Gaza in twenty-five years.

A uniquely deadly virus in a uniquely vulnerable place

The polio virus can cause irreversible paralysis within hours, and it poses a severe threat in Gaza, where high malnutrition rates and toxic stress levels increase children’s vulnerability to infection.

Humanitarian operations across the region are severely hindered by bombardments and the obstruction of critical aid supplies at Israeli-controlled crossing points. Essential refrigerated trucks needed to transport vaccines have repeatedly been denied entry.

Aid agencies and medical professionals are now urgently calling for a humanitarian pause in the conflict to enable the administration of life-saving vaccinations to approximately 640,000 vulnerable children under the age of 10. The appeal follows the Gaza Ministry of Health’s confirmation of Abdelrahman’s case, with additional suspected cases now emerging.

(Update: On Thursday, August 29, CNN reported, “Israel has agreed to a series of pauses in fighting in Gaza in September to allow young children in the enclave to be vaccinated for polio, according to United Nations and Israeli officials.”)

After Abdelrahman’s test came back positive, his mother immediately isolated him from his siblings, who later received the vaccine. But isolating in a tent in an overcrowded displacement site is near impossible.

The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed last month that the poliovirus was also detected in sewage samples from Khan Younis and Deir Al-Balah, and health officials are raising alarms about the potentially catastrophic consequences if a vaccination campaign cannot be carried out immediately.

Nahed Abu Iyada, CARE West Bank and Gaza’s Health Program Field Officer, warned of the impending disaster: “Without an immediate ceasefire and access to vaccines and humanitarian aid, Gaza faces a public health disaster that will endanger children across the region and beyond.”

The health system in Gaza, already severely damaged by ongoing hostilities, is struggling to provide even basic care, leaving many children unvaccinated. At least 50,000 children born during the last 10 months of conflict are unlikely to have received any immunizations, while older children’s vaccine schedules have been disrupted by violence and displacement.

Over a million doses of the nOPV2 vaccine and 500 vaccine carriers have been delivered to the cold chain room in Deir Al-Balah, and the first-round vaccination campaign is planned to be rolled-out starting on August 31. The second phase will start in September, but the ongoing conflict presents significant challenges to the distribution process.

Health officials say the campaign’s success hinges on authorities allowing the swift entry of vaccines and cold chain equipment into Gaza.

Hours, not weeks to save lives

CARE’s primary health center in Deir Al-Balah, which first opened its doors on July 10, 2024. The clinic offers prenatal and postnatal healthcare, women’s sexual and reproductive health services, nutrition for children under five years, primary health for communicable and non-communicable diseases, psychological support, and the provision of primary care medications.

The resurgence of polio in Gaza is attributed to the destruction of water and sanitation infrastructure , coupled with the restrictions on repairs and supplies, which have exacerbated the situation.

Jeremy Stoner, Save the Children’s Regional Director for the Middle East, emphasized the urgency: “Now that polio is confirmed, the response needs to be measured in hours, not weeks. Without immediate action, an entire generation is at risk of infection, and hundreds of children face paralysis from a highly communicable disease that can be prevented with a simple vaccine.”

Officials have said there will be 11 distribution centers, most of which are concentrated in the middle area of Gaza, Deir Al-Balah, where the vaccines will be stored. If any health facility participating in the campaign faces any shortages, they will be able to contact and procure more vaccines from the distribution points.

A group of 20 aid agencies and medical professionals stressed that the vaccine distribution requires full humanitarian access into Gaza from all border crossings and safe, unhindered movement within the Strip —something only achievable with an immediate end to hostilities.

“Polio can cause total paralysis within hours, and in Gaza, where only about 1,400 hospital beds are available for two million people, the stakes couldn’t be higher,” Stoner said. “These children do not have the luxury of time.”

CARE continues to call for an immediate ceasefire, the return of all hostages, and the passage of unfettered humanitarian aid into Gaza. Click below to find out how you can help.

Technology experts in education say signing up for T-Mobile’s Project 10Million, the company’s initiative aimed at delivering internet connectivity to millions of underserved student households, can help set children up for success in the classroom and beyond — and why it’s as important now as ever.

John Sousa, the Chief Information Officer for the East Orange School District in New Jersey, says the Covid pandemic highlighted a significant issue he had long been aware of: the digital divide among students.

“There was already an imbalance,” says Sousa, reflecting on how online state-required testing prior to the pandemic exposed the lack of internet access for some families. “The pandemic only exacerbated the digital divide for many of the 11,000 students in our district.”

Of course, Sousa’s school district was far from alone in this challenge. In 2020, between 15 million to 16 million U.S. students were living in households without reliable internet access, according to a report by Boston Consulting Group and nonprofit Common Sense.

In response to these growing challenges, Sousa reached out to T-Mobile during the pandemic to explore solutions for improving internet access for his district’s students.

“I got in touch with T-Mobile and asked how we can provide connectivity when as much as 20% of our community is in this gap that exists for families that can’t afford to provide high-speed internet to the students,” says Sousa. “And how can we make it a seamless transition between T-Mobile, the school and the students so that we don’t have overlap or confusion on the exact need we are facing”

Sousa says that T-Mobile jumped right in and provided approximately 3,800 hotspots through Project 10Million, the Un-carrier’s $10.7 billion education initiative. Announced in 2019 and launched in 2020, Project 10Million aims to close the digital divide in education by offering free internet connectivity and mobile hotspots for up to 10 million eligible student households. Additionally, the program provides school districts with free or heavily subsidized data plans and ensures that all participants have access to affordable laptops and tablets.

By the end of last year, T-Mobile had provided $6.4 billion in products and services and connected nearly 6 million students across the country through Project 10Million and other education initiatives.

“The hotspots have given us peace of mind because we no longer have to worry about missing any students who still lack access,” says Sousa. “We’re largely understaffed and don’t have the resources that we would need to manage the project the way that it needed to be managed. T-Mobile’s team worked out all those details, delivered it all and helped get the broadband access out there to students that are stuck in the digital divide.”

Sousa says in a school district with many families who are homeless or living without regular access to connectivity, Project 10Million has become an invaluable service.

As students head back to school this fall, internet access is ever more critical for kids to learn and thrive in an increasingly digital world. Yet today, 24 million U.S. households still lack reliable internet.

That’s why, as families make their annual back to school checklists for new backpacks and pencils, Sousa says he wants those in need to know that adding Project 10Million might be one of the most important things to help prepare for a successful school year.

BANNER P10M
Study Guide Check List

• Project 10Million is T-Mobile’s $10.7 billion initiative committed to offering free connectivity to up to 10 million eligible students across the country.

• T-Mobile also works with school districts by giving them free connectivity and subsidized data plans. Plus, everyone in the program has access to affordable laptops and tablets.

It’s easy to get started! Check eligibility and sign up for Project 10Million at:
www.t-mobile.com/Project10Million

Forestry best management practices (BMPs) are voluntary practices that forestry professionals follow to protect water quality in the areas that they manage. In Georgia and Alabama, BMPs require that the litter layer on top of the soil be left on ephemeral channels when trees are harvested along ephemerals. Ephemeral channels are channels formed by water during or immediately after a precipitation event where the top layer of the forest floor is disturbed, and soil is exposed. Previous owners of one of our tracts had harvested all the pine and hardwood trees from along the ephemeral ditches and then converted the area to pine plantation. Our foresters identified areas where the prior conversion risked increased erosion and decided to establish them as hardwood streamside management zones (SMZs).

To achieve this transition back to hardwood, a buffer was established as an additional protected area. The existing pine was removed from the buffer area and all hardwood currently growing inside the buffer area was protected. The growth of the hardwood inside the newly established buffer area was aided by additional sunlight that reached the trees due to the removal of the pines. The buffer areas are recorded and protected as young hardwood stands in our GIS mapping system and are allowed to grow freely into riparian hardwood buffers. We believe that this enhances water quality, wildlife habitat, and biodiversity.

Originally published on Aflac Newsroom

Do good. Spread love. Lend a hand. These are phrases commonly heard in life that encourage more meaningful connections with our communities. The Aflac team based in Connecticut has become a shining example of this very sentiment.

Since 2021, this team has regularly participated in activities focused on social assistance. One organization, for example, is ReadyCT, which helps provide more than 500,000 students in low-income areas of the Connecticut public school system with the necessary tools to prepare them for future success. Aflac employees regularly volunteer their time, offering professional insights on job interviews, business tips for professional interaction and attire, and resume reviews to help these young students get a head start in their careers.

The Aflac team in Connecticut also works with the Cove Center for Grieving Children, which supports young people who have lost a loved one, providing a fully funded camp experience called Camp Compassion. With employee donations in tow, several team members drove to Kent, Connecticut, to help set up the cabins and, for each camper, left behind a backpack filled with essentials. Of course, the swag included an Aflac plush duck on each bed.

Aflac employees also recently helped raise money for the Cove Center, traveling from various states to participate in a golf tournament to benefit the camp, raising nearly $70,000.

The spirit of service and support that abounds in Aflac’s culture is an undeniably vivid example of the impact that making a difference can have at work and in society. Being a profitable company is important, but it does not solely define our mission — after all, care is at Aflac’s core.

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Aflac herein refers to American Family Life Assurance Company and/or American Family Life Assurance Company of New York and/or Continental American Insurance Company and/or Continental American Life Insurance Company.

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