Chapter 6 extra credit

Here's the extra credit opportunity for the 2nd 9-weeks. This may be the only extra credit offered this quarter.

The requirements are:

• Write a letter to a Fortune 500 company* requesting they send you information about their environmental stewardship programs. Here's a list of Fortune 500 companies.
• Bring me a signed copy of the letter to be graded.
• Be sure to mail the original letter to the company, so they can send you a response.
• You may get up to 50 points for a well-written letter. Here is the letter rubric. There are some links at the bottom with advice for writing business letters.
• Letters should be typed, well-written and persuasive.

If the company responds (in any way), you get another 50 points. Bring in the company’s response (e.g., letter) to class.
If they send materials, that’s another 50 points.
If they send enough copies of the materials for your entire class, and me, you earn an extra 150 points.
So, it's possible to earn 300 points with this extra credit.

Rules:
The company must be a for-profit, Fortune 500 company.
The company must not have its headquarters in Florida. So, even though Publix is #101, you can't use Publix for this assignment.
Your letter must be sent to the corporate headquarters and materials must be sent from the corporate headquarters; so be sure to show me the envelope you receive from the company. You will not receive the points if you neglect this requirement.
You cannot send your letter to any company discussed in class as an example of corporate environmental practices, including those companies who are used as examples in this assignment, unless you send the letter before the example is used in class.
Letters must be turned in by Friday, Dec 18. Any response or materials received from the company must be shown to me by Jan 22.

Here's an example of a letter from a past student. And another example.
And here's an example of a letter one student received in response.

Here are a couple old videos about the ecological efforts of two companies: Timberland and Martin Guitars.


Timberland



Martin Guitars



Purdue University offers some advice on how to write a business letter. The University of North Carolina also has some advice on the topic. You can also check on this YouTube tutorial.


My own experience with this

Last year, I decided to take part in this assignment, too. So, I wrote to Apple and DuPont. But, to keep it realistic, I wrote as a high school student, and I used my 2-year old son's name, Hudson.
Apple and DuPont wrote me back. Apple just sent a letter with information. DuPont sent materials, too. Here are a couple pictures.

Finally, plan ahead. Don't wait till the end of the 9-weeks to suddenly start caring about your grade.

*If there's a company not on the Fortune 500 list that you want to write to, talk to me about it. I might approve a non-Fortune 500 company if you can give me a compelling reason why you really want to write to that particular company.