Our Climate Journey with Eric Huegerich
“To me, sustainability is all about maximizing the use of the resources you already have.”
Eric Huegerich
General Manager
Eric Huegerich is the General Manager for Zum’s San Bernardino yards, and came to Zum with over 15 years of experience in transportation and logistics. He enjoys coaching little league and traveling with his wife and sons.
At Zum, we’re revolutionizing student transportation in order to build a green, sustainable future. What does sustainability mean to you?
To me, sustainability is all about maximizing the use of the resources you already have.
Growing up, I learned a lot about conservation. My dad was a car dealer. My mom was a nurse, and my step dad was a general contractor. That meant I spent a lot of afternoons working on cars and learning how to fix things in a home. At a young age, I learned how to be handy, to fix things for myself.
Fast forward to today, and the way that manifests is that I always try to maximize the use of everything I have, and only buy new things when I absolutely have to.
I won’t buy shirts or sweaters if I already have enough of them. It’s the same with cars—sure, I’d love a new Ford F-150, but the car I drive now gets twice the gas mileage, is better for the environment, and means I won’t be sending an old car to the junk yard.
The other day, our washing machine broke. It made this terrible noise, and it wouldn’t drain water anymore. I took this as a perfect learning opportunity for my two sons, who are thirteen and nine. I explained that we could buy a new washing machine for $700, but that would mean this current one would go in a landfill, which isn’t good. Alternatively, we could spend $450 to have someone else repair it—or we could go on Amazon, buy the part we needed for $18, and fix it ourselves in less than two hours. By the time I got done explaining, my oldest son said, “Well, obviously we’ll fix it ourselves.”
Teaching my kids to re-use what we have is important, because that means that, down the road, they’ll teach their kids—and ultimately that will create a long chain of people who are re-using things instead of making waste and adding to our planet’s trash problem. That’s sustainability to me.
Climate change is the single greatest threat to our way of life, but it can sometimes feel abstract, far away, a problem for another time. How has climate change affected you personally?
I’ve been fortunate enough to live all over the U.S.
A while back, I was living in Palm Springs. During a particularly hot period, we hit 125 degree weather, every day for a week. Later that year, I moved to Chicago—for the same job at the same company. That winter, there was a polar vortex. In the span of a single year, I experienced a 175-degree spread in temperature—and that spread is only getting bigger.
Weather volatility isn’t news, but it is real, and we’re only going to experience more of it. I worry about that—not even as much for my kids, so much as their kids. If the difference is 175 degrees now, what will it be for them?
What can Zum do to be a leader in sustainability, to spearhead the charge in the fight against climate change?
I’m the General Manager at our San Bernardino yard. Here, we don’t yet have electric buses, but we work to be sustainable and climate friendly in everything we do.
With our advanced routing technology, we’re able to be much, much more efficient than traditional transportation providers. Where a legacy contractor might have used 80 to 90 buses to serve our territory, we’re using 50 to 60 vehicles. That means more students per vehicle, fewer vehicles on the road, and much less emissions in the air. It also saves money for schools.
The principles you follow at home are also relevant in your professional life. As mentioned, I’m all about being as effective as possible with the resources you have, and at our San Bernardino yard—and in our yards across the country—we’re taking the same approach. We’re maximally efficient with our buses, which is a win / win for students, parents, schools, and the environment. And because we’re as efficient and streamlined as possible, once we do electrify, we’ll be ready.