Southwest Airlines Community

As you can imagine, as an airline, it’s not easy being Green.  But, we are always looking for ways to reduce our impact on the environment and use our resources responsibly.  Here are our top 10 reasons why you shouldn’t pinch the next Southwest Employee you see OR the next LUV jet you fly on because here’s how Southwest goes Green: 10.          Purchasing Renewable Energy | To power Southwest Airlines-controlled Dallas and Houston facilities, we’re continuing our five-year commitment to purchase 30 percent renewable energy credits, making Southwest one of the EPA’s Green Power Leaders.    9.            Electric Ground Support | On the ground, we continued our electric GSE conversion program and now have nearly 1,100 GSE in our fleet that use cleaner-burning technology. We also announced our commitment to enter new markets with electric belt loaders and baggage tractors. 8.            Community Garden | Currently, volunteers regularly cultivate the Community Garden at Headquarters, which has now grown to include 2,500 square feet and uses compostable waste from The Landing café. This past season, the Team harvested an array of fruits and vegetables, which were donated to a local Dallas food bank. 7.            Partnering with Green Suppliers | The suppliers we select must share our high standards of efficiency and desire to provide Green products and services. 6.            Co-Mingled Recycling | As a result of our ongoing environmental stewardship commitment, we have diverted nearly 7,000 tons of material from landfills and into recycling facilities since August 2008 with our co-mingled recycling program.  That’s equal to the weight of nearly 165 Boeing 737-700 aircraft.  5.            Green Team | Comprised of Employees from every operating group, the Green Team helps collect, share, and implement our environmentally responsible ideas and initiatives and help Southwest put a Green filter on business decisions. 4.            Green Ambassadors | Our Green Ambassadors  across our System support the Green Team’s efforts and help to foster and grow environmental stewardship in the cities we serve. They promote our mission to operate with a Green filter in these communities by sharing eco-friendly ideas, leading volunteer activities, and hosting green events. 3.            Evolve: The New Southwest Interior | On Jan. 19, 2012, Southwest introduced a new sleek cabin experience to improve Customer service, improve fleet efficiency, and give back to the environment.  The cabin update on Southwest’s 737-700s and new 737-800s joining the Southwest fleet in April feature durable and environmentally responsible products that reduce waste and create a weight savings of 635 pounds.        2.            Volunteerism | We are committed to doing our part to Protect the Planet and its natural habitats by partnering with organizations like the National Wildlife Refuge Association and the Student Conservation Association to take service projects to the backyards of our Employees’ work locations.  1.            Operating with a Green Filter | Our Green filter is evident in our environmental programs, education and outreach efforts, and stakeholder involvement.  For us, it’s more than just doing the right thing.  Environmentally responsible decisions make good business sense. Other than wearing something Green to avoid that St. Patty’s pinch, what are you doing to be Green and give back to the environment where you work and live?  Let us know by e-mailing green@wnco.com or by commenting below.  DING!  You are now free to be Green! ... View more

Fall is my favorite time of year, and I love to watch the leaves change from the vibrant green in the summer to the beautiful fall colors—red, orange, and yellow.  As I watch the leaves change, I’m taking the time to change my focus to things that truly matter.  You’ve probably heard these: Find your inner-peace.  Life is too short—enjoy it right now.  Work/life balance.  These are just a few things I’m refocusing on as we move into the fall season and closer to the holidays.   •  Eat better.  Organic food is healthier for you and for the Planet.  Organic means the food you are eating is without the use of conventional pesticides, artificial fertilizers or sewage sludge, and that they were processed without food additives (like chemical preservatives).  In the past, it might have been challenging to find organic foods since you could typically find them at community farmer’s markets.  Grocery stores are getting on the wellness bandwagon—organic foods are now on the shelves at your local Wal-Mart and most grocery stores. •  Invest in you time.  If you’re not able to take advantage of public transportation or carpooling to reduce your impact on the environment, consider leaving earlier or later than rush hour to reduce car smog and the amount of time you’re on the road.  Take that extra time in the morning or evening to have some quiet time or spend time with family and friends. •  Green your mind with exercise.  With the fall season comes cooler temperatures, and if you’re like me, you’re finding every opportunity to get outdoors and enjoy the sunshine.  Take your yoga mat with you to a park or your backyard, or find an area near your neighborhood to take a walk and breathe in the fall air. •  LUV yourself and others.  Hold the door for others, take the opportunity in an elevator to say hi, or try something new you’ve always wanted to do.  It’s the simple things that can show people you’re thinking about them, and it’s the little things you can do for yourself on a regular basis to help keep you and those you LUV happy. Let us know your thoughts on how you stay happy and maintain your wellness.  Have a tip for Green Tuesday?  Let us know in the comments section below. DING!  You are now free to be Green. ... View more

Last year was the 40th anniversary of Earth Day and recognizing our Planet’s precious resources and the importance of working and living with a Green filter.  In honor of Southwest’s 40th anniversary and more than 40 years of celebrating Earth Day, here are 40 ways you can go Green. 1. Start carrying a reusable bag. 2. Bring a travel mug to your favorite coffee shop. 3. Eat an all-local meal. 4. Take public transit.  5. Walk or bike instead of driving. 6. Install a water filter on your tap so you don't feel the need to drink bottled water. 7. Install an aerator on your kitchen tap to reduce water use. 8. Replace old toilets with dual flush models. 9. Invest in rechargeable batteries. 10. Start buying and using compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) or LED light bulbs. 11. Take hazardous waste to your local drop-off center. 12. Switch to all-natural cleaners (homemade or store-bought). 13. Stop using paper plates. 14. Buy a bunch of tea towels and ban paper towels from your home. 15. Build a backyard compost bin. 16. Plant a garden to help promote biodiversity. 17. Switch to eating organics, especially fruits and vegetables. 18. Purchase products with minimal packaging. 19. Install a water-saving shower head. 20. Invest in cloth napkins and stop buying paper ones! 21. Plant a tree in your yard. 22. Share your green know-how with others. 23. Try a locally-brewed and/or organic beer. 24. Plug your electronics into a smart power strip, which automatically senses when electronics aren't being used and cuts power to avoid phantom power use. 25. Take a short shower (5 to 10 minutes). 26. Head to the library to indulge your reading habit instead of the bookstore. 27. Turn your thermostat down at night or when you're at work. 28. Throw a clothing swap. 29. Rake and sweep rather than using a leaf blower. 30. Recycle your old sneakers with Nike's Reuse a Shoe program. 31. Get a solar charger for your iPod and other electronics with built-in batteries. 32. If you're not doing it already, start recycling! 33. Learn and follow your local recycling guidelines. 34. Switch to a renewable energy provider. 35. Carpool with coworkers or friends who work close to your office. 36. Walk or ride your bicycle instead of driving. 37. Stop buying plastic water bottles. 38. Recycle your old electronics at Best Buy. 39. Donate your old phone to a charity. 40. Become a Green Ambassador! ... View more

There’s an app for that!  A few weeks ago, I found an app on Facebook that helps you keep track of your water footprint, how you match up against your friends, and how you can take action to reduce your impact, save water, and save money.  The water calculator on the app allows you to input your personal information about your household water and gives you a score.  You can check that out here.   There are actually lots more out there!  Many of the green apps I’ve seen are free or are $1 to $2.  Here are a few other apps I’ve come across that are worth checking out: •  GoodGuide: This app helps you find safe, healthy, and sustainable products while you shop.  Just take a photo of a product’s bar code, and Voilà!, you can instantly discover information about how green the product is.  Even better—this app is free! •  Green Genie: Right off the bat, you can find out 100 different ways to go green.  Whether it’s bringing your own bag to the grocery store to finding ways to get paid (yes, paid!) for reducing your emissions, this $0.99 app is well worth the download.  It was also named “Top 5 Green Apps” by PlanetGreen.com and AppConsumer.com. •  MeterRead : Here’s a simple tool to read your electricity meter and monitor your energy consumption.  The creator of the app, Mark Barton, started saving $50 a month once he started monitoring his own meter.  The download only costs you $0.99.  Once you open the app, you’ll have a choice of five possible meters.  Just pick yours, hit “record,” then start reading the meter on your iPhone over the next few days to find out how you can use less energy. •   Green Gas Saver: This iPhone app tracks your driving habits and shows you how to save gas.  This is another free one! •   Light Bulb Finder: Not sure which energy-efficient bulbs to buy for your home?  This free app can show you how to switch—just open up the app and compare your bulb to pictures and descriptions of greener bulbs.  Time saver—if you can’t find the bulb at your neighborhood store, you can purchase the right one via the app. What apps have you downloaded to help you be green?  Let us know with your comments below.  DING!  You are now free to be green! ... View more

Landing one of Southwest’s red bellies at Greenville-Spartanburg on March 12 to kick off Southwest’s inaugural weekend celebration was just the beginning of Captain Bert Godwin’s involvement in his hometown airport. Last month, Captain Godwin took his Adopt-A-Pilot class from Westcliff Elementary school to the GSP airport to have the opportunity to experience aviation first-hand. GSP Station Manager Brian Williams joined Captain Godwin along with Westcliff fifth –grade teacher Mark Joseph to meet with an Air Traffic Controller, talk with airport Employees to learn about their jobs and responsibilities, tour the airport and watch a Southwest plane land, and even enjoy some pizza. Nearly 90 percent of the students shared they had never been inside an airport. From this video courtesy of Greenville HD at www.greenvillehd.com, you’ll see the impact Southwest is already having in the Upstate community and the difference Captain Godwin is making with his involvement in the Adopt-A-Pilot program now going 14 years strong. ... View more

I don’t have a lot of green in my wardrobe, but why is it that the only day I should grab that green t-shirt in my closet, I forget??  On St. Patrick’s Day, this leads to lots of unwanted pinches for those who are just looking for people not wearing green.  Well, this year, I forgot again (ouch!), but hopefully these five ways to stay green will give me some ammo as to why I shouldn’t get pinched.    Check these out: 1.       Recycle.  I know most of you are already recycling your aluminum cans, paper, and glass, but whatever you do, don’t toss your old electronics in the trash.  There are several retail stores out there like Office Depot and Staples who offer recycling services.  If you don’t have one of these retail stores near you, check out local recycling facilities who participate. 2.       Show your auto some LUV.  Be sure to take your car in for routine checkups to improve your fuel economy.  Also, check your air filter to make sure it’s fresh to increase your gas mileage.  Find more helpful tips on energy efficiency from the U.S. Department of Energy. 3.       Browse the Internet.  Pay your bills online and save not only the paper your creditor has to send you, but a stamp and that check out of your wallet.  I use mycheckfree.com to pay several of my bills all in one place.  Or, if you’re wanting to send someone a message from a Leprechaun, take advantage of Hallmark’s online greeting cards (lots of them are free!). 4.       Power down your computer.  The sleep mode on your computer can reduce energy by 60 percent, but powering down is even better.  How about this savings—a high-end computer left on 24/7 would cost about $405 per year versus about $5.50 to run a lesser-energy computer for two hours per day.  Think I’ll start powering down. 5.       Paper or plastic? How about neither.  Those cloth or canvas bags typically only cost about $0.99, plus, you can usually carry a lot more in them without worrying about your groceries falling out of your bag on the way to the car.  Just keep some in trunk, and grab them on your way into the store! What are you doing this St. Patrick’s Day to be Green (other than drinking green beer or looking for that four-leafed clover)?  Let us know by posting your comments below.  DING!  You are now free to be Green! ... View more

I feel like I blinked, and the whole weekend was over!  But, what an amazing welcome from the Upstate—the celebration of Greenville-Spartanburg as our 70 th destination was certainly a weekend I will never forget.   Hundreds gathered at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport (GSP) on Saturday, March 12, to watch our ferry flight nearing the runway, filled with Employees ready to spread the LUV at GSP!   I looked around and saw the crowd smiling and cheering to see Southwest Airlines landing at their airport.   Upon landing, our red belly was met by a water arch and a sea of new Southwest friends and family in the Upstate community.   To kick off our arrival, we hosted a plane pull with Jeremiah Dew from the Greenville Drive as our Emcee.  One thing I learned quickly—the Upcountry doesn’t mess around when competition is involved.  When we first told the Chambers of Commerce in Anderson, Greenville, Greer, and Spartanburg that we wanted them to compete head to head to see who could pull our 83,000 pound Boeing 737 in the fastest time, they immediately started trying to one-up each other.  These folks have never seen a plane pull, but they did know they wanted to win.  Remember, I told you that the Upstate takes competition seriously?  Well, I wasn’t kidding.  The Spartanburg plane pull team recruited football players from Wofford College and beat out the other teams by five seconds with a time of 16 seconds.  Unreal.  But, all walked away with two roundtrip tickets for their local Chamber of Commerce, a fancy trophy, and bragging rights to say they competed in GSP’s inaugural Southwest plane pull. Saturday evening, the celebration continued in downtown Greenville, which I affectionately call, the Paris of the South.  More than 50 local community members, social media peeps, and our brand new GSP Employees were given the red carpet treatment in four downtown restaurants—Rick Erwin’s, Larkin’s on the River, The Lazy Goat, and The Nose Dive—to get a taste of the signature pairing each has to offer.  At the end of the night, we all gathered at Barley’s Taproom to toast a wonderful night and give away roundtrip tickets.   Sunday morning we were all up bright and early to send off our first flights with breakfast, coffee, massages, and, of course smiles, for every plane and every Customer.  GSP’s new Station Manager, Brian Williams, did a tremendous job leading his Southwest Warriors for a memorable first day of service.  More fun on our first day—a group of locals headed to Chicago Midway on our first flight for a day trip just to experience some authentic Chicago-style deep dish pizza.  Many of them told me they spent a lot more on pizza and beer than their airfare on Southwest! Our Employees Shared the Spirit Sunday afternoon with a tree planting at the airport entrance in honor of Mr. Roger Milliken, who had such a passion for the Upstate community and was a strong advocate to bring our Boeing 737s to GSP.  Mr. Milliken was GSP’s only Chairman since its inception in 1959 until his passing last year.  After the ceremony, Employees split up into two groups to head to Greenville and Spartanburg counties to show our deep roots by planting trees in local parks.   Our Chairman, President, and CEO, Gary Kelly, and Ginger Hardage, our Senior Vice President Culture and Communications,  joined us Monday morning at the airside garden to officially kick off our new service at GSP.  The Clemson University mascots and cheerleaders joined us for the celebration, and, just like they kick off all of their home football games with the tradition of running down the grassy hill toward Howard’s Rock for good luck—also known as the 25 most exciting seconds in college football, we shared in that tradition with about 20 Southwest Employees led by Clemson cheering:   S-O-U-T-H-W-E-S-T LUVS SC LUVS SC GSP! What a weekend—and what a way to kick off an amazing partnership at 30,000 feet.  As you watch this video, you’ll hear the stories of a community who wanted the freedom to fly.  And, now they have it.  If you are like me, the passion and energy you’ll feel from the folks who live and work in this beautiful region of the county will give you goose bumps.  About 30 seconds in, I find myself saying out loud each time I watch this—it gets me every time.   I’m already counting down the days until my next visit to the Upstate.  This place certainly has a special place in my heart.   ... View more

Southwest Airlines relies on a dedicated group of local Employees in every city we serve who evaluate and respond to each request for a charitable donation that comes from the community. These “Local Giving Boards” allow local Employees to decide how Southwest can be the hometown carrier when it comes to charitable giving in their communities.  Southwest Airlines focuses our resources primarily on five areas of charitable giving: the Military and it Families, Families Facing Serious Illness, Youth Leadership and Community Involvement, the Environment, and Disaster Preparedness and Response. To celebrate the season of giving, this week we’ll highlight some of our memorable stories from 2010 in each one of these categories. Environment Environmental Stewardship is a responsibility Southwest takes seriously, as minimizing waste and effectively using our resources (energy, people, and materials) helps us protect our most vital resource of all—the world in which we live. Efficient operations are the hallmark of our Company and the foundation of our environmental commitment. As many of us watched the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico spread this summer, we were extremely concerned as we read the reports and saw the threats and disturbance to the marine environment along the coastal barriers.  In particular, Louisiana’s state bird, the brown pelican caught our attention as they had just been dropped from the endangered species list about six months prior to the spill.  If you watched the news coverage, you would have seen dozens of brown pelicans being transported to rescue centers for treatment. So, how could Southwest, an airline, do our part to make a difference?  Southwest Airlines is the official airline of the National Wildlife Refuge Association (NWRA), so what better opportunity than to leverage our partnership with them to help to restore what the oil took away.  We launched our first ever cause-marketing campaign—Help Us Help Them—on September 21 to donate $1 (up to $100,000) to the NWRA for every EarlyBird Check-In purchase through October 4.  The brown pelican is a bird, we offer an EarlyBird product—you get it, right??  In celebrating the first anniversary of the Early Bird Check-In product we decided that an investment in our communities was the best gift to both our Employees and our Customers. Thanks to our EarlyBird flyers, we were thrilled to announce our $100,000 donation to the NWRA on October 18.  The money was put to good use.  The NWRA used our donation to work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to acquire and restore brown pelican nesting sites along the Gulf—this work will help ensure the survival of 10,000 brown pelican chicks next year. Southwest Airlines is proud to support an organization that works hard to conserve our country’s precious wildlife.  For more information about the EarlyBird Check-In program, visit southwest.com.  And, to learn more about the National Wildlife Refuge Association, visit www.refugeassociation.org. ... View more

Southwest Airlines sponsored Internet Week in New York City--a week-long festival celebrating the Big Apple's thriving industry and community. Events were hosted throughout the city, from parties and meetups to executive breakfasts and conferences, all to profile New York City's industry as a whole. If you stopped at Internet Week's Headquarters, you would have seen Southwest's interactive space equipped with a charging station and two rows of our Boeing 737 airplane seats for attendees to meet, greet, and get a little work done. Out of 12,000 square feet of exposition space at Internet Week's Headquarters, CNET awarded Southwest for best creative presentation space setup. Being a neighbor to other spaces hosted by Yahoo and PepsiCo, this is certainly an honor. To top off our Big Apple visit, Internet Week asked Community Relations Specialist Casey Welch and I to take part in ringing in the NASDAQ Exchange. Our answer-Um, yeah!! When we arrived at the NASDAQ building on Times Square, they took a picture of everyone participating and printed the photos out for us as a keepsake. Little did we know that this photo and all of the pictures taken in the studio were streaming live in a loop on the outside of the NASDAQ building. When it was time to ring in the NASDAQ, we cheered and clapped on live TV as Internet Week's Chairman David-Michel Davies made it official and rang the opening bell. This was such an amazing experience! Thanks to the folks at Internet Week for having such a fun event in the city that never sleeps for Southwest to take part in and sponsor! ... View more