© 2024 Michigan State University Board of Trustees
Public Media from Michigan State University
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Ford’s Sustainable Life Style Inspires Employee to Practice at Home Helping Transform Detroit

Russ White
Kirk Heinze, Alessandra Carreon. The solar panels on Ale's home can be seen above Heinze's right shoulder.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVgkiEpKD1Y">Alessandra Carreon is determined to be sure that every day is Earth Day. She’s determined to make a difference.  To Ale, as she is known to her friends, sustainability is more than a way of life, it’s a mindset needed to ensure a better future for generations to come that should happen every day.

As a member of Ford’s global supply chain sustainability team, Carreon is in a position to help create a better tomorrow for people worldwide.

As she says, “I really can’t separate my personal and professional commitment to sustainability I have assumed it as my way of life.”  I decided that Ford is the place where I can combine ‘engineer Ale’ with socially responsible Ale.”

She tells Kirk Heinze on Greening of the Great Lakes how she and her husband are helping make a difference on Detroit’s east side in the West Village sharing with neighbors the environmentally conscious lifestyle that guides their own lives. 

From solar panels on their home, to composting, recycling and using green materials in their projects, Ale helped launch a neighborhood sustainability committee and helped get West Village designated as an EcoDistrict, focusing on better health, climate resilience, livability and increasing the quality of life.

Her determination and commitment to practicing at home what she does at work, helped bring West Village a $100,000 grant to install green infrastructure to manage storm water runoff, minimizing the burden on the Detroit sewer system and keeping pollution out of the Detroit River.

Six years ago Carreon was living in Seattle when word of Detroit’s rebirth reached her.   Out of curiosity she visited the area in 2011 and six months later moved to the Motor City, and has been making a difference ever since.

Greening of the Great Lakes airs inside MSU Today Sunday afternoons at 4:00 on 94.5 FM and AM 870.

Journalism at this station is made possible by donors who value local reporting. Donate today to keep stories like this one coming. It is thanks to your generosity that we can keep this content free and accessible for everyone. Thanks!