Health&Wellness Magazine June 2014 | Page 18

18 & June 2014 | Read this issue and more at www.healthandwellnessmagazine.net | Like us Take a Bow: Corporate America Makes Healthy Choices By Annette Racond, Staff Writer world a better place for you – and for future generations. Companies nationwide are dispelling a common perception that corporate America is driven by greed and corruption. Many people have come to believe that the “big players” don’t have a soft side and have no interest in doing right by mankind or the environment. Of course, there may be some truth to this notion in some instances, but the tide is turning thanks to progressive companies like Lexington-based Alltech, Louisvillebased Yum! and Long John Silver’s. There has been considerable press noting how companies like Google, Apple, and Microsoft are leading the pack on the corporate social responsibility front. Google has built an awesome green transportation system featuring biodiesel shuttles and the largest corporate electric-vehicle charging system nationwide. The company’s on-campus, car-sharing program includes the next generation of plug-in vehicles. What’s more, Google rewards self-powered commuters by donating to their favorite charities based on how often they bike or walk to work. My guess is employees are putting in some healthy mileage. Whenever possible, the company relies on local, organic, and sustainable food from farms and fisheries within 200 miles of respective offices. Don’t you wish you were on the Google payroll? On that note, we’re pleased to report that Kentucky is making its own splash with impressive, meaningful, and green initiatives. Here are just a few of the projects that local companies have launched to help make the On a Winning Streak Louisville, KY-based YUM! Corporate Responsibility magazine has named Yum! one of this year’s top public companies for its commitment to corporate social responsibility. Yum! operates more than 40,000 restaurants - KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell - in 128 countries. Those are some busy kitchens! Better yet, Yum! is the only restaurant company on the magazine’s Corporate Responsibility 100 list. Under the direction of its Chief Sustainability Officer, the Global Sustainability team is actively working to deliver on the corporation’s global enterprise-wide goals for sustainability. These respectable goals include designing and building new company-owned restaurants to be LEED certifiable by 2015; reducing energy consumption in companyowned restaurants 15 percent by 2015; reducing water consumption in company-owned restaurants 10 percent by 2015; implementing supplier environmental audits by 2015; purchasing paper-based packaging with fiber from responsibly managed forest and recycled sources; and working towards implementing waste recovery projects to reduce, recycle, and reuse waste in company-owned restaurants. What a Relief! Lexington, KY-based Alltech Lexington-based Alltech, which helps farmers feed the world, raise healthy animals, and protect the environment through nutritional innova- @healthykentucky team that Haiti needed more than just disaster relief. They needed sustainable economic growth, jobs, agriculture, and education. The Alltech Sustainable Haiti Project began in Ouanaminthe, Haiti with the goal of helping to build a sustainable future in one small part of Haiti. Alltech’s efforts focused on education by working to improve and upgrade schools, strengthen local Haitian enterprises by launching a Haitian coffee and Haitian rhum, and leading various economic development projects throughout the country. The company also recently hosted the 30th Annual Alltech International Symposium in Lexington to allow business people, farmers, technology gurus, marketing professionals, entrepreneurs, journalists, and government officials, along with food and feed industry experts to mingle and exchange ideas. tion, h \