Sustainability: How Small changes Make a Big Difference

Sustainability: How small changes make a big difference

At the current rate of pollution, global warming, and climate change, will the Earth become inhabitable by humans? According to a BBC Science Focus article, humans will most likely adapt and mandate change before that happens. As human pollution levels rise, so does the political imperative to do something about it. Examples include:

• The Great Smog of London in 1952. That environmental circumstance was credited with 4,000 deaths, which was then followed by the Clean Air Act of 1956.
• The United States’ 1972 Clean Water Act was spurred by public outrage when the excessively polluted Cuyahoga River caught fire in 1969.
• The 1987 Montreal Protocol was an international agreement to help protect the Earth’s ozone layer. It eliminated almost all Chlorofluorocarbons (used in refrigerants and aerosol propellants) from industrial and consumer products worldwide.

Today, the industrial and individual movement toward sustainability is crucial.

Exponential world population growth and the unprecedented levels of resource consumption have made sustainability an urgent issue. The Earth Summit Conference of 1992 prompted over 100 United Nations member countries to adopt sustainable development strategies.

Sustainability is based on the principle that our survival is dependent on the natural environment, and that we should be using our resources in such a way that they will continue to be available in the future. Prevail Bank is certainly doing its part.

Customers of Prevail Bank helped.

Prevail Bank is a community bank that takes seriously its commitment to sustainability and building a better tomorrow for its customers, their families, and the Wisconsin communities in which they live. This year, as a result of its annual Free Community Shred Day events, held at each of its nine branches, area citizens and businesses brought 15.5 tons of paper; 31,037 lbs. was collected, shredded and subsequently recycled.

According to Recycling Facts and Figures published by St. Charles County Public Health’s Environmental Division, that amount of paper saved:

• 263 trees – those 263 trees can absorb a total of 3,867 pounds of carbon dioxide from the air each year
• 31 barrels of oil - enough to run the average car for over a year (19,530 miles)
• 63,550 kilowatts of energy – the annual power usage of almost 8 average-sized homes
• 49.6 cubic yards of landfill and
• 930 pounds of pollution

In addition to bolstering the environment, $11,756.70 was divided between nine local nonprofits:

1. United Way of South Wood & Adams County (Wisconsin Rapids)
2. W-O-W Kids Meals (Owen-Withee) · People Helping People (Baraboo)
3. Soup or Socks Food Pantry (Marshfield)
4. Taylor County Health and Human Services - Suicide Awareness and Prevention Programming (Medford)
5. The Community Table (Eau Claire) · Embrace (Phillips)
6. Plover River Crossing Project – Green Circle Trail (Stevens Point)
7. Wausau Metro Adult Special Olympics (Wausau)

Prevail Bank donated a dollar for every pound of paper collected, up to $1,000 per location. Ultimately, Prevail Bank gifted $8,892; the public donated an additional $2,864.70. These funds will save lives, feed the hungry, arrange protective services for domestic abuse survivors, and other positive and profound impacts for hundreds of northcentral Wisconsinites --- changing lives for the better.

Working together with its customers, local business, and nonprofits, to pursue what’s possible, is what Prevail Bank does best.  Thank you to all who contributed!