08 February 2024, Siniloan, Laguna, Sierra Madre Mountain Range. 50 keen Ivoclar Vivadent staff trekked the first accessible top ridge climb to adda another 450 native Philippine forest trees to the UP Laguna Quezon Land Grant site based in Siniloan, Laguna – also FEED’s first and longest serving Living Legacy partner.
Since November 2023, the company had planted six times prior, enabling most of their staff including management to take part in at least one of the trails and planting experiences. Ivoclar is the first such organisation to carry out back-to-back plantings within the span of just 5 months – relentless in their pursuit of implementing part of a longer-term ambition to strengthen their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) culture into a tradition of sustainability centred around people, the environment and corporate governance.
“We are a learning company and all our activities are part of a process of continuous improvement. We are highly conscious of the fact that our actions impact all 17 SDGs. Therefore, we are focusing our efforts on the SDGs 3, 4, 8, 9 and 13….
Responsible action is more than just a catchphrase for us. We are committed to acting sustainably throughout our entire value chain. This begins with our company’s employees: As a responsible employer we create attractive job opportunities and we advocate equal opportunities, diversity and inclusion. Programs to improve work satisfaction are just as important to us as initiatives that enable employees to reconcile their private and professional life. We offer all our staff members specialized further development and training programs.
We employ around 3,700 women and men under fair and equitable working conditions at our company headquarters in Liechtenstein and in our subsidiaries and branches throughout the world. We believe in recruiting local people in order to benefit the regional labour markets. We prefer to work with local suppliers in an effort to minimize negative environmental impacts.” (Source: www.ivoclar.com/en_li/company/people)
True enough, a total of around 160 employees in the Philippines planted a total of 2110 trees in that period, amassing the equivalent of over 2000 tonnes of carbon to be sequestered over the course of the average life of a forest tree, at say conservatively, minimum 40 years plus.
Thank you Ivoclar ecowarriors for being super enthusiastic, appreciative and for enjoying yourselves in nature, despite the challenge of the trail to the first top ridge! Moving at a comfortable pace, amidst sunny skies and cool forest breezes, some parts of the trail are challenging with a slight 35 degree slop towards the top, amongst big rocks and some soft muddy areas; but once everyone made it to the top along the 40 minute trail up, “being a part of planting 450 trees was so worth it”, claimed one participant.
Some also decided to take the tractor “Enchanted Kingdom” style ride down from top ridge…much more adventurous that the walk!
After a quality control session, we headed back to base camp and the training centre to freshen up and change into dry clothe, to make way for a well-earned native binalot chicken adobo meal wrapped in banana leaf with egg and banana.
We then proceeded to the corporate certificate awarding to thank Ivoclar’s leadership, management and CSR team, and all who supported the planting with a majority of their staff having been able to participate in any of the seven plantings. In record time – congratulations and thank you again!
GPS Coordinates & Picture Gallery
Use any GPS (Global Positioning System) software / applications to input the latitude and longitude coordinates to be able to remotely see the location of your trees planted. Some examples include:
About Ivoclar Vivadent Inc.
Ivoclar is a worldwide dental company that produces a range of products and systems for dentists and dental technicians.
Actively responding to the requirements of our customers is in our DNA. When we design and develop applications for our dentist and dental technician customers we always take the treatment needs of their patients into account.
We are committed to supporting dentists, dental technicians and dental hygienists in developing their knowledge and expertise and in honing their skills to perfection. Our commitment comes in the form of numerous advanced education and training offerings around the world.
We are grateful for our success and believe in giving back. In addition to promoting the further development of our employees, we are passionate about supporting a variety of social and charitable projects, in some instances over a period of many years.
For more details, visit: Ivoclar.com
How Trees Secretly Talk to Each Other (BBC News)
Trees talk and share resources right under our feet, using a fungal network nicknamed the Wood Wide Web. Some plants use the system to support their offspring, while others hijack it to sabotage their rivals.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWOqeyPIVRo
Contact FEED
Join us in helping reverse the Earth’s “hothouse climate” tipping point. Plant plant plant.
Tree-Planting with FEED
Contact us at FEED for more details, to join our regular activities or to design your own tree-nurturing event: info@feed.org.ph or call/text +63 (0)917 552 4722.
View original video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPC29Rwr6Pg
© Fostering Education & Environment for Development, Inc.