Toyota plant launches local reforestation initiative within global initiative.

BLUE SPRINGS – Morizukuri came to life at Toyota Mississippi Friday as more than 50 team members and Special Olympics athletes planted thousands of trees to support the Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050. This challenge is Toyota Motor Corporation’s global effort to move towards a society where people, cars and nature can coexist in harmony.

Morizukuri, a Japanese word meaning to “create a forest,” refers to the action of biodiversity conservation by reforestation. This effort is being undertaken at Toyota facilities worldwide to commemorate the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo.

Toyota Mississippi President Sean Suggs said, “Today we join Toyota’s global effort to bring awareness to the environmental challenges faced by society. This is something each of us can address in our own way both at home and in group projects like Morizukuri.”

Toyota will be using the Miyawaki method for its Morizukuri event. The ecological engineering concept involves planting indigenous trees and shrubs in a specific pattern to create natural forestation. As in the native forest, natural selection will determine the outcome of the forest density. Species native to Mississippi and the Toyota site include Red Maple, Hickory, Black Gum, Red Cedar, Black Cherry and Beauty Berry. Flowering trees and fruit trees are planted at the edge of the planting area.

Toyota Environmental Senior Specialist Sean McCarthy said, “Our volunteers have planted 2,050 seedlings today. We look forward to watching our reforested area grow and expand. We appreciate the time and effort of our team and volunteers and know everyone will enjoy watching this area develop.”

The Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050 was launched in 2015 to offset deforestation across the world that is resulting in the fragmentation of diverse living creature habitats, as well as the continuing loss of biodiversity. The company has been striving to reduce the environmental burden attributed to automobiles to as close to zero as possible, while developing measures to contribute positively to the earth and its societies with the aim of achieving a sustainable society.

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in the U.S. and North America for more than 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands. During that time, Toyota has created a tremendous value chain as our teams have contributed to world-class design, engineering, and assembly of more than 40 million cars and trucks in North America, where we have 14 manufacturing plants, 15 including our joint venture in Alabama (10 in the U.S.), and directly employ more than 47,000 people (over 36,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in the U.S.) sold nearly 2.8 million cars and trucks (nearly 2.4 million in the U.S.) in 2019.

Through the Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights the way it partners with community, civic, academic and governmental organizations to address our society’s most pressing mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move, anything is possible. For more information about Toyota, visit www.toyotanewsroom.com.