Sometimes, Just Doing One Thing can Make a Difference

When you make that decision to put your can in the recycling bin, use a recyclable container for your lunch, or pick up a few pieces of trash in your local park – do you wonder whether your efforts to improve the world actually make a difference?

Our employees at AT&T are proving that it does! As you’ll see in our 2013 Sustainability Update, sustainability isn’t something that’s limited to corporate initiatives and decisions made in board rooms. It’s something that’s embodied by our employees through the actions they take every day.

Through our Do One Thing (DOT) movement, employees are taking measurable, regular actions that improve themselves, their community or the company. DOTs can be anything from committing to turn off the water while brushing your teeth, volunteering at a local animal shelter, or engaging your entire office to use less paper. As just a few examples:

• Patricia Thatcher, an employee in AT&T Network Operations and one of our 2013 Champions of DOT, started a DOT team with her colleagues from all over the country to recycle containers and packaging. Their efforts kept 72 tons out of the landfill!
• Jeanelly Concepcion, a Human Resources Delivery Manager is committed to printing less and going paperless. She’s so passionate that she’s started a team which now has 162 members that are leveraging technology and avoiding the landfill in the process.
• Allison Brennan, Service Executive in Global Customer Service has a personal DOT to exercise three times a week, and 40 of her co-workers join her in exercising every day to feel healthier and happier in Birmingham, Alabama.

The cool thing about DOT is that we’re also able to show the collective impact we’re making through these individual actions. As of the end of 2013, DOTs created by employees have saved over 18.3 million gallons of water, kept over 815,000 pounds of trash out of landfills and saved over $351,138 through initiatives such as signing customers up for paperless billing and reducing paper usage.

So the next time you’re considering throwing that soda can in the trash, or leaving the faucet running while you brush your teeth, remember that  one individual CAN make a difference, and just Doing One Thing can add up to big change when people work together. Choose your DOT today here!