Make Every Day Earth Day with Ando

As we’re about to celebrate the 52nd Earh Day, it’s worth reflecting on what the day means and why it’s so important. And while we try to keep our Stories section “about us” as little as possible, there’s no way we can separate Ando from the goals of Earth Day, as there’s a ton of wonderful overlap.

First, some backstory—as stated on earthday.org:

In the decades leading up to the first Earth Day, Americans were consuming vast amounts of leaded gas through massive and inefficient automobiles. Industry belched out smoke and sludge with little fear of the consequences from either the law or bad press. Air pollution was commonly accepted as the smell of prosperity. Until this point, mainstream America remained largely oblivious to environmental concerns and how a polluted environment threatens human health.

Groups that had been fighting individually against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness and the extinction of wildlife united on Earth Day around these shared common values. Earth Day 1970 achieved a rare political alignment, enlisting support from Republicans and Democrats, rich and poor, urban dwellers and farmers, business and labor leaders. By the end of 1970, the first Earth Day led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of other first of their kind environmental laws, including the National Environmental Education Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and the Clean Air Act. Two years later Congress passed the Clean Water Act. A year after that, Congress passed the Endangered Species Act and soon after the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. These laws have protected millions of men, women and children from disease and death and have protected hundreds of species from extinction.

While today we all take a certain amount of environmental awareness for granted, it’s valuable to reflect back on a time when that wasn’t the case. The origins of Earth Day were important in helping people understand that they didn’t know that they didn’t knowall of the dangerous practices that were harming the environment. That’s the exact same thinking behind so much of what Ando does. We go to great lengths to educate people that, even before the first Earth Day, traditional banks have been investing their money in the fossil fuel industry and they didn’t know that by design--the banks never shared that information. By revealing that, we provide an opportunity for Ando users to redirect all their deposits away from “brown” investments and toward green investments exclusively and transparently...projects and companies committed to fighting climate change. Being an Ando customer is a unique opportunity to personally divest from the fossil fuel industry and align your money with their values.

Since the debut of Earth Day in 1970, the state of the environment has gotten both better and worse. Yes, awareness of what went wrong, where we’re at, and what needs to change to make things better is at an all-time high. But in parallel to that progress is the sad fact that so much of the world has doubled-down on fossil fuel infrastructure, that the only thing climate scientists have been wrong about is how rapidly things are worsening. But we’d rather see the glass as half-full than empty, and we continue to be excited and encouraged by the efforts of so many to create a more sustainable tomorrow for us all, and restore balance to the natural world.

So, back to Earth Day 2022. This April 22nd, do something to honor and preserve the planet, and if you need inspiration here are just a few ideas, courtesy of earthday.org. And while you’re doing that, please give some serious thought to joining Ando and using your account to its fullest (and if you already have, thank you). You’d be hard pressed to find a single action that has a more positive impact on the environment than banking with Ando. That’s not hype—your deposits combined with the rest of the community’s make for a huge amount of money “rescued” from the dangerous investments of the old banking system and directed toward those that have the power to save us and preserve the planet for generations to come. To date, over 60,000 Ando users have enabled us to invest over $28 million in green initiatives, and were just getting started.

All this has been a long way of saying that one Earth Day per year is good, but 365 of them is better. Join Ando, and make every day Earth Day.

Share this article

Enjoy your eco-friendly read?

Copy the link below

Share on social

Ando's green initiatives

How are we investing in a better future?

Discover the industries that are making a difference.

Clean Energy

Solar, wind, water——clean energy is revolutionizing the way we power our planet.

▻

Sustainable Transportation

Leaving fossil fuels in the dust, sustainable transportation is fueling a cleaner tomorrow.

▻

Green Buildings

It's more than just a color. Green buildings are making architecture and construction cooler and cleaner.

▻

Sustainable Industry

Reuse it or lose it? Sustainable industries are working towards less waste around the world.

▻

Sustainable Agriculture & Forestry

Pivotal to the future of our planet, sustainable agriculture and forestry are rooted in positive change.

▻

Start fighting climate change by banking smarter

A mobile banking experience with features designed for you and your world. Fee-free and carbon-free, always.