The Lexus Environmental Challenge: Using Recycled Materials to Make a Difference

You probably know that Lexus offers its customers the RX 400h, the GS 400h and the LS 600h L hybrid-powered vehicles. That it does so is a mix of excellence, engineering and environmental stewardship that saves a bit of gas, delivers very low emissions and offers our customers what they want - all good stuff, right?

But we don’t promote environmental stewardship just to sell cars. We promote it because we believe in it.

We believe in it so completely that recently, in partnership with Scholastic, the publishing, education and media company, Lexus announced the Lexus Environmental Challenge.

The program consists of two elements: The first is educational material that encourages middle- and high-school teachers to integrate lesson plans into their classrooms to help teach students about the environment.

The second is a contest to reward environmental action with more than $1 million in grants and scholarships. The contest invites students to use what they’ve learned in class to participate in four challenges, each of them addressing a different environmental element – land, water, air and climate. Teams of five to 10 students will define an issue, devise a planner to address the issue, implement the plan, and then report on the results.

The 64 winning teams from the first four challenges will be invited to participate in the Final Challenge, intended to be an important project with the potential to change the world. Each of 14 finalists will receive $50,000 per team, to be shared by students, advisor's and schools. Two Grand Prize–winning teams will receive $75,000 in grants and scholarships to be shared, again, by students, their teacher advisor's and schools. Winners will be announced on Earth Day, April 22, 2008.

All very interesting, right?

But here’s a detail that that we think is equally interesting. It involves something called a "dealer kit," a box of materials designed to help Lexus dealers get their communities, their customers and area students involved in the program.

The dealer kit comes in a simple white cardboard box just a little less than 14 inches square and about 4.5 inches deep. But this is more than just a box. It’s also an example of being focused on environmental issues in a micro way, not just a macro way.

The kit contains documents that summarize the program and tell the dealers how to become involved, including how to participate in a matching-funds program that will be used to support Lexus Environmental Challenge teams. It also offers a list of ideas for student projects and a collection of postcards  that can be mailed to a dealership’s customers to help make them aware of the program, and to encourage students to become involved.

It may seem insignificant, but because the box is made entirely of recycled materials, and because the post-card mailers it contains also are made from recycled materials, it’s the kind of detail that exemplifies and underscores the Lexus commitment to the environment.

A sticker on the box says, "This box was once a tree, a sports page, a birthday card, a comic book, a To-Go menu and an egg carton. Now it’s a challenge."

And the cards inside, which tell recipients how to get involved, all carry similar messages.

These are just tiny details. But it’s said that the genius is in the details. It’s our hope that these details will unlock the genius that resides in the program’s teachers and students, and that they’re able to identify practical solutions to the environmental challenges they attack. When that happens, the details will indeed make a difference.

~ Contributed by Nancy Hubbell, Corporate Communications

Comments

[Greg]

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