There were a lot of remarkable things about the first Earth Day, but looking back from 2016, what’s most striking is how it brought people together when it felt like society was falling apart.

Related Reading:

http://www.mgmthink.com/CO-EarthDay-042116

http://www.mgmthink.com/CO032216WorldWaterDay

Many businesses over the past three decades have reshaped themselves, becoming “multi-national enterprises” (MNEs in NGO-speak), thanks in great measure to the advances in information and other technologies, where everywhere is a keyboard click away for communication, and to the end of the Cold War in 1989-1990. Corporate organizations have also become “flatter,” with power and influence dispersed (more) to the far reaches of the operations or supply chain footprint.

The Paris Climate Change Agreement opens for signatures today during a high-level ceremony convened by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York. All Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UN FCCC) are invited to sign the agreement. GRI’s Chief Executive, Michael Meehan is attending, together with some 60 world leaders, among them, President Francois Hollande of France, and China’s President, Xi Jinping. The attendance by China is seen as a major step, with the country dubbed as the world’s manufacturing powerhouse and largest carbon emitter. Over 150 countries will be present at the event.

Global outdoor lifestyle brand Timberland, a leader in sustainability and corporate social responsibility, today announced it plans to exceed 60 service projects in more than 20 countries throughout April and May as part of the company’s 18th consecutive celebration of Earth Day. Timberland has supported thousands of communities around the globe as part of its longstanding commitment to community service, from its headquarters in Stratham, New Hampshire to Taipei, Taiwan.

This month Antea Group Senior Consultant Pamela Gordon co-led an ISRI workshop on measuring and maximizing the business and environmental benefits of plastics recycling. The workshop was attended by numerous metals recyclers who shared that they view themselves as being at the beginning of a learning curve, and need direction and coaching to ramp up their plastics-recycling efforts efficiency and profitably

Aramark (NYSE: ARMK), a global leader in food, facilities management and uniforms, earned a place on the 2016 25 Noteworthy Companies for Diversity list, DiversityInc announced during diversity and inclusion’s keystone event held at Cipriani Wall Street on Tuesday, April 19.

Net Impact announces the 2016 Impact at Work Challenge: Climate Disruptors, a competition that dares employees to inspire change within the walls of their own company. The virtual competition launches on Earth Day (April 22, 2016) and closes on Sept. 9, 2016. It is free to enter and open to all professionals working within any sector (nonprofits, for-profits and government entities), provided the company or organization employs at least 10 people. With support provided in part by International Paper and the Moxie Foundation, Climate Disruptors is the first in a series of global workplace challenges which Net Impact will organize.