Benefiting People and the Planet on Earth Day
Signalmash invites you to love the earth, care for yourself, and create a more vibrant global tech community this Earth Day!
Hi this is Tracy, but you can call me Tray. I run the finance department at Signalmash and its parent company IP Link Technologies Group, Inc. (IPLT). This Earth Day, I just wanted to reach out to all our wonderful customers and vendors and colleagues and coworkers and family members and friends out there in the wide world of tech!
I am especially excited to celebrate Earth Day with you this year! The environment means a lot to our company! At Signalmash, we mean it when we say environmental advocacy can benefit both people and the planet. Sometimes, taking action to care for our earth can even improve your personal life— in ways you might never expect!
In fact, Signalmash would not exist at all without a group called Students for Environmental Awareness (SEA). Noah Kamrat, our CEO, and I both attended SUNY Potsdam. We both joined SEA our freshman year. One spring day back in 1990, Noah and Tray (me) happened to choose the same time slot for a “tabling” shift. SEA members often volunteered to sit in the student union and offer information about SEA goals and initiatives. Among our goals in 1990 was to create a campus wide recycling program. The following year, Noah and I began to go from building to building at SUNY Potsdam— picking up the paper that other students and professors had voluntarily put in the bins we fundraised for, purchased, labeled, and provided to buildings throughout our campus.
Awareness of, and love for, the environment is what brought Noah and I together. We’ve been married for 30 years now, and we’ve run a business together for about 20 of those years! Environmental advocacy is the thing that taught us how to work together in a group setting to create and achieve important goals.
Signalmash is a technology business committed to family, community, and the earth. I’m excited to share some of the things I plan to do this year to improve myself and my surroundings. We believe helping the earth doesn’t have to feel like a sacrifice on a personal level or on a business level. Below are some fun things I am doing that you are welcome to try if you wish. I truly believe tech and activism, including environmental justice activism, are not incompatible terms. Technology is a tool like any other. Let’s harness it to make our homes, our gardens, our health and our spirits happier and healthier… for all of our sakes.
Thanks for listening!
Tracy
Earth Day Every Day Opportunity List by Category
home
- Rid Well: Signalmash is headquartered in the Portland area and we use Ridwell https://www.ridwell.com to make sure things like plastic bags, lightbulbs and batteries are repurposed into new items! Check around your area for enhanced recycling options—or start your own, like the founder of Ridwell and his eight-year-old son did!
- Eat Your Leftovers: Food waste is a huge drain on energy, which causes an increase in greenhouse gasses. What’s in your fridge? Could you take that leftover rice and turn it into a casserole? We are likely to have reduced food supply as a planet due to the conflict in Ukraine, which is one of the world’s breadbaskets. Why not do what patriotic Americans did in WWII and plant a victory garden (even if it is just a pot of basil on your kitchen counter)? Obtaining and using food wisely can help save water, too! https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2021/02/25/climate-curious-food-waste/
- Nurture a Living Plant: A great way to improve health and well-being in home and office environments is to grow something green! https://extension.sdstate.edu/four-benefits-houseplants
garden
- Native Plants: This year, why not add native plants to your outdoor space! Native plants are very helpful for the birds and the bees. Many native plants, especially succulents, also look great in outdoor pots! And native plants tend to thrive in your location… because they are native to it! https://www.audubon.org/content/why-native-plants-matter
- Gravel Garden: The Western US is experiencing a historic drought. That’s why I am thinking of replacing my lawn with a gravel garden featuring drought resistant plants. Next year I will post a before and after pic to let you know how my gravel garden grows!
https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2010/06/04/the-problem-of-lawns/ - Learn to Love Dandelions: Did you know you can eat them, and that they are healthy for people and other animals? https://www.bhg.com/gardening/yard/lawn-care/keep-dandelions/
health
- Eat More Plants: hey, did you know that reducing the amount of meat and dairy you eat can help your heart AND the planet? https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/09/health/plant-based-diet-heart-disease-study/index.html
- Turn Off Your Devices: Give yourself and the environment (and your electricity bill) a break! http://content.time.com/time/specials/2007/environment/article/0,28804,1602354_1603074_1603535,00.html
- Get Out In Nature: https://e360.yale.edu/features/ecopsychology-how-immersion-in-nature-benefits-your-health
spirit
- Meditate: Research suggests that “meditation, a mindfulness exercise, could result in increased connectedness to nature and pro-environmental behavior.” https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343964558_Nature_Enhanced_Meditation_Effects_on_Mindfulness_Connectedness_to_Nature_and_Pro-_Environmental_Behavior
- Mindfulness: To deal with stress and sleep issues, try mindfulness! It will help you maximize your ability to help others. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/consumer-health/in-depth/mindfulness-exercises/art-20046356
- Be Kind to Someone Working in a Call Center: Signalmash and IP Link supports call centers and all the amazing people who make and answer legitimate client calls! It isn’t easy, and we thank you. https://www.buzzfeed.com/cassiesmyth/heres-why-you-should-be-nice-to-call-centre-workers