Today, April 22, is Earth Day. Alliance Residential Company is among the Yardi multifamily clients that will mark the occasion: A tree will be planted at almost every Alliance community this week, except those that are in exceptionally urban environments or have special circumstances. “The goal is to plant a tree at the majority of our Alliance communities,” said Kelly Vickers, Alliance’s National Director of Sustainability. “Trees do so much for the environment: filtering air pollution, reducing soil erosion, creating shade, helping recycle water.” Alliance’s facility directors, who oversee 257 apartment communities across 13 states, worked with the companies’ regional landscaping vendors to coordinate the selection of appropriate local native trees, which will find new homes in the ground at each community site. The properties that can’t plant trees are helping out in a different way, such as supporting the Nature Conservancy’s “Plant a Billion Trees” campaign, which is working to preserve Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, an endangered tropical forest, and entails planting a billion trees by 2015. Each $1 donated equals one tree planted, and Alliance communities are encouraging their residents to support the cause. Broadening awareness about the benefits of sustainable living is just one aspect of Alliance’s Focus Green campaign, which was formally launched in 2012. Earth Day comes and goes in a flash. With Focus Green, Vickers and Alliance have developed a set of comprehensive principles to help guide the company toward a greener future. This year, the program will expand into action items that touch development, operations, training and administration. “The program has two overarching goals. The first is to reduce the consumption of energy and natural resources at our communities and our offices. The second is to educate, promote and support our associates’, residents’ and owners’ participation in more...