MEDIA RELEASE

In an effort to empower AT&T customers with sustainable choices, increase efficiency and minimize impact on the environment, AT&T is teaming up with The Nature Conservancy to encourage AT&T customers to skip the bag when purchasing items from its retail stores in Hawaii.

With this program, which runs through Jan. 31, AT&T will donate 10 cents to The Nature Conservancy for each check out bag its customers choose to forego.

AT&T’s Skip the Bag campaign is in support of The Nature Conservancy’s efforts to protect and restore the lands and waters on which all life depends. The Nature Conservancy takes innovative action to invest in the planet’s environmental and economic future, including Hawaii’s fresh water and coral reefs.

Funds generated from AT&T donations will be used to support The Nature Conservancy’s work.

For example, in Hawaii the most isolated populated land area on the planet, the islands’ forested mountains capture water in the form of mist, fog and rain, absorbing and releasing it into streams and underground aquifers, providing fresh water for the state’s 1.3 million residents and 7 million visitors annually.

Without healthy, functioning forests, Hawaii’s supply of clean, fresh water would be at risk.

The top priority for protecting Hawaii’s forests is to control the devastating damage caused by introduced invasive weeds and non-native animals.

The Nature Conservancy and its partners in Hawaii are leading innovators in conservation technology to adapt and implement cutting-edge techniques in forest conservation.

The Conservancy is expanding the conservation toolbox by developing, field testing, and piloting the most promising technologies and then quickly implementing them on the ground.

“To protect fresh water sources and coral reefs in Hawaii, we have to innovate beyond traditional ‘boots on the ground’ conservation. We must find – or develop – technologies that improve effectiveness while cutting costs,” said Suzanne Case, executive director of The Nature Conservancy in Hawaii. “With the support of partners like AT&T, we can fund innovations that dramatically improve the scope, pace and efficiency of our work.”

“As we work to make our own operations at AT&T more sustainable, we also want to empower our customers to live more sustainably,” said Dan Youmans, AT&T Hawaii President. “The skip the bag initiative joins our other environmentally focused retail efforts, like our eco-devices and device recycling programs, which help AT&T and our customers to minimize our impact on the environment, today and well into the future.”

Throughout the duration of this campaign, customers will also have the opportunity to donate additional funds to The Nature Conservancy at AT&T stores in Hawaii.

— Find out more:
www.att.com/sustainability
www.nature.org/hawaii