ABOUT GMRENCEN

VISION:
Create and maintain an environmentally responsible culture through sustainable innovation, performance and community involvement.

Key Environmental Principles (RECIPE):

• Reduce, re-use, recycle
• Eliminate waste
• Continue to model responsible behaviors
• Improve our surroundings
• Prevent additional harm to the environment
• Engage the workforce and communities

Every Spring and Fall
The tenants at the GMRENCEN close their blinds at night and turn off their office lights every spring and fall to aid in the annual bird migration each season. Collisions with buildings kill more wild birds than any other single factor and nocturnal migrants are attracted to artificial lights. In addition to ensuring the survival of migratory birds, turning off the lights saves energy, saves money, and reduces light pollution.

The Problem
Each spring and fall, millions of birds migrate through the Detroit area. The bulk of the birds fly at night, when they can navigate by the stars and the air is less turbulent. Lights from cities, especially those on tall buildings or those aimed into the skies, disorient the birds and draw them in. Attracted to the lights, many hit windows. Others circle buildings until they fall from exhaustion. Either way, the result can be fatal for the migrants.

The Impact
Migratory bird populations continue to decline each year due to a number of factors that are putting enormous pressures on their survival as species. Migration is a particularly perilous time for them; the majority of these birds make twice-yearly trips between their breeding grounds in North America and their winter homes in Central and South America. Along the way they face numerous obstacles, of which collisions with buildings claim the largest number of lives. The U.S. Forest Service of the USDA estimates that 550 million birds die annually due to collisions with buildings.
Thank you for your participation!

The GMRENCEN complex and hundreds of millions of other people around the world switch off their non-essential lighting during Earth Hour every 4th Saturday in March at 8:30 p.m. This annual event is the world’s largest public environmental action, involving hundreds of millions of people from more than 5,000 cities and towns in 135 countries/territories across all continents. For additional information, visit www.earthhour.org.

If you happen to be downtown during Earth Hour and catch photos or video of the GMRENCEN and/or the city going dark, we’d love to see your pictures. Tag us on Facebook, or tweet with us @gmrencen, #earthhour.

2012-2013; BOMA TOBY (The Building of the Year) Award

2013; Energy Star Award for River East Center (Towers 500 & 600)

2008; ULI Award of Excellence