Earth Day began on April 22, 1970, as a nationwide environmental teach-in in the United States. Today, it’s a global movement—engaging more than a billion people across 190+ countries.
Each April 22, communities mark the day with hands-on activities like beach cleanups, tree planting, and local education efforts—alongside growing support for renewable energy and climate action.
Earth Day is also a great reminder that small choices add up. Across FirstService Corporation, teams are recognizing Earth Day (and Earth Week) with simple challenges and community cleanups that make a real difference.
First Onsite
First Onsite Canada is celebrating Earth Week (April 20–24) with a different team challenge each day.
Meatless Monday: Enjoy at least one plant-based meal or snack.
Turn Off Tuesday: Unplug one device you’re not using for the day.
Waste Not Wednesday: Pick up litter during a walk or errand.
Trash-less Thursday: Use a reusable bottle or mug all day.
Friday Night Lights Out: Turn off the lights for one hour at 8 p.m.
Along the way, team members learn the “why” behind each idea—and how participation can add up. For example, if every one of the company’s 1,161 employees swapped one chicken-based meal for a vegetarian option, about 60 chickens could be spared and roughly half a ton of greenhouse gas emissions could be avoided.
On Turn Off Tuesday alone, that could mean saving 140 kWh of electricity and avoiding 20 kg CO2e.
And if everyone picked up just three pieces of litter on Waste Not Wednesday, First Onsite could remove 3,483 items from the environment in a single day — helping protect wildlife, keep debris out of storm drains and waterways, and reduce plastic pollution in our communities.
A quick reminder of why reusables matter: plastic bottles can take hundreds of years to break down and may become microplastics, and billions of coffee cups are tossed each year—many ending up in landfills.
These steps may be small on their own, but they’re a great way to build everyday habits that can lead to a bigger impact over time.
California Closets
“All of Us” is California Closets’ network of team members focused on strengthening culture, collaboration, and belonging—helping teams stay connected with clients and with each other through communication, events, and community outreach. For Earth Month, the group is rolling out Care in Action: Simple Activities to Try and introducing an EcoChallenge Tracker to spark small, everyday sustainability habits that add up over time—and fit naturally into people’s values and routines.
The EcoChallenge kicks off at the start of the month with a simple message: it’s about progress, not perfection. Team members can choose from a short menu of easy actions—like recycling, cutting down on single-use plastics, turning off lights, or taking walking meetings—and then self-track each week by posting a quick check-in, emoji, or short note in Teams or Viva Engage. Throughout the month, participation will be recognized by spotlighting creative ideas, steady consistency, and great team energy.
As custodians of our planet we share a responsibility for minimizing our environmental impacts. This can start by all of us incorporating small actions into our day-to-day activities. Over time, many of these actions will become habits.
FirstService Residential
FirstService Residential teams are putting in the work on beachfront cleanups—helping keep shorelines beautiful for residents and visitors while removing debris that can harm marine life through ingestion or entanglement.
