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Every Earth Day, I’m reminded how far I have come.

In the early 90s, I was working from home one day ― a rarity ― when my son Shawn was about seven years old. I was in my study, focusing on some key priorities I had that day, when Shawn darted in and out of the room a couple of times. I finally looked up and noticed that his shirt had a picture of the Earth on the front.

I asked Shawn to come closer, and when he turned around, I saw that the other side of the shirt said, “Save the Trees! Earth Day.” I freaked out. I snapped at him and said, “Get that shirt off. We don't care about Earth Day, we're who they're saving the trees from!” I told him from now on, every Earth Day he and I were going to go ride a bulldozer and knock down as many trees as we can. Sadly, this is a very true story.

As soon as I started taking some time away from Clayco, I became very passionate about hiking, climbing, and losing myself deeply in forests around the world as often as I could.

It didn’t take me long to change my mind about what was happening to our planet concerning the trees and climate change. The world is heating up fast, and although I think there are MANY contributing factors, humans are definitely a big part of the reason.

Clayco will do our part in mitigating the negative effects on Earth and to help pave the way for a sustainable future. We have pledged commitment to a Net-Zero standard that utilizes the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) framework toward positive climate action. We are working to lead our industry toward a zero-carbon economy using new and existing innovative strategies.

To maximize our sustainability efforts, collaboration is key. We all need to be operating with transparency and finding alternatives to the current levels of embodied carbon in steel, cement, and other energy-intensive manufactured products used in the industry.

Today and every day, it is important for us to try to become part of the solution. Take a pledge today to know better, do better, and build a better tomorrow.