In World War II, such images helped to mobilize and motivate citizens across the nation to change their consumption habits and act for the common good … and the hope is that a new set of equally powerful, positive images as created through the Green Patriot Poster campaign will incite motivation and action of the same degree to address issues of climate change.  To that end, the Canary Project and project partners are commissioning poster designs from leading firms, designers, artists and photographers around the world, and will also host an online poster design competition starting in September.

The first “installment” of the Green Patriot Posters was unveiled last month in Cleveland in the form of bus ads, designed by world-famous, Cleveland-born artist Michael Bierut, promoting public transportation and green jobs.  (Our friends at Treehugger reported on the Cleveland project and Green Patriot Posters last week.)

The Canary Project share their thoughts about the Green Patriot Poster campaign and additional photos from Cleveland on their page at Changents.com.  To view new Green Patriot work, learn more about the campaign or submit your own art for the contest (starting in September), visit greenpatriotposters.org.

That’s what the co-founders of the New Hampshire Carbon Challenge (NHCC) are banking on; they’ve thrown down the gauntlet for local residents to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by 10,000 pounds per household per year. 

A daunting task – but here’s where NHCC really comes into play.  They’ve developed a detailed Carbon Estimator™ calculator so that Challenge participants can understand their current environmental footprint, and also provide an extensive list of easy, executable ways in which to reduce that footprint – and shed the pounds.

Denise Blaha, co-founder and co-director of the NHCC, shared her thoughts with us about the importance of making environmental impact personal … and how her organization is helping to motivate positive change:

Households are an essential player in reducing emissions. Our electricity usage, home heating, and vehicles contribute roughly half of all greenhouse gas emissions. We can’t stabilize our climate without engaging residents. There wasn’t an organization in New Hampshire that was focused on helping households reduce their energy usage, so Julia (Dundorf, NHCC co-founder and co-director) and I decided to create one: the New Hampshire Carbon Challenge.  Necessity IS the mother of invention.

The typical household that takes the New Hampshire Carbon Challenge is reducing its emissions by 17% and saving $853 a year in energy costs. Protect the environment and protect your wallet… the classic win-win that we all seek.

One of the most valuable lessons that we’ve learned since starting the Challenge is the power of competition and communities in galvanizing change. While we are focused on the household, we can link households together through the communities of which they are part (a town, a business, a church, or school) to show the collective reduction in CO2 and energy dollars saved.   (See our map of Challenge-takers by community here.)

 We strongly believe that we must all take action now to reduce the risks of climate change. The five key words in that sentence are “we must all take action” … all of us, not some of us, not somebody else, but all of us, acting in our homes, in our businesses, in our schools, churches, and communities to significantly reduce our use of fossil fuels, and demanding action of our political leaders at the state and federal level. That alone will result in the emissions reductions that are essential to slowing climate change. Actions matter, not reading about the problem or listening to a segment on NPR…only actions.  Ask yourself “What am I doing to reduce my emissions?” and set a goal to continually add to that list.  We must all take action now (and at every level of our society) to avert the worst impacts of our changing climate. There is strong agreement among scientists that we are running out of time.  Our children and grandchildren will likely inherit a badly damaged planet if we fail to act now.

Denise Blaha
New Hampshire Carbon Challenge

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Everyone deserves a vacation … and now there are more options than ever for Earthkeepers wanting their time away to be restful, relaxing and environmentally-considerate:

• Organizations like the International Ecotourism Society and the Green Hotels Association can help you locate environmentally-responsible destinations, lodges and tours around the world.
• Through sites such as Carbonfund.org, TerraPass.com and Carboncounter.org you can calculate the environmental impact of your travel, then compensate for that impact by purchasing carbon offsets.
• For one-stop shopping, many travel sites including Orbitz and Expedia now allow you to browse energy-efficient hotels, book hybrid rental cars and buy carbon offsets for your trip.

Even given the bounty of green travel options and resources, many are still finding it easier – and less expensive – to vacation in their own backyard.  If you’re among those looking to get away from it all without really getting away, check out greenliving’s rules for a successful “staycation” (rule #3 is our favorite).

Enjoy … and don’t forget your sunscreen.

• 49% of survey respondents said a company’s environmental record is important in their purchasing decisions … but that number dropped to 21% when consumers were asked if this had actually driven them to choose one product over another.
• When asked why most companies that adopt environmentally friendly practices do so, the most common response (47%) was “to make their company look better to the public.”

So how do you separate fact from fiction in today’s green marketing epidemic — and how can you make it work for you?  Courtesy of BusinessWeek.com, here’s environmental marketing expert Scot Case lending insight and suggestions on how to be a more eco-savvy shopper:

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TriplePundit’s Tom Schueneman, who was so enthralled with the site he became a member, writes, “Truly, the more I got into working my Changents story, the more excited I became about the possibilities of the platform.”

Innovation, energy, powerful possibilities … all the reasons we get excited about Changents, too.

Our thanks to TriplePundit and Tom for sharing his Changents experience … and kudos to the Changents team (including our Earthkeeper Heroes) for making that experience so worthwhile.

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Rural Tennessee in mid-June is not necessarily someplace you’d want to spend a day outside. Night time isn’t so bad, but during the day it’s fairly punishing. I think that the people who put on the Bonnaroo Music + Arts Festival know this.

But they’re in a tough situation. If they waited until later in the summer or later in the year then it would be hard for upwards of 80,000 (mostly) high school and college students to carve out the time between school and jobs to get to Manchester, Tennessee (which, during the Festival, apparently rises from a speck on the map to being the sixth largest city in the state).

Timberland’s “Bonnaroo Crew,” 2008

Still, while the blazing sun is beating down on the colorful “county fair”-fashioned Bonnaroo site, you really have to want to be there. And the tens of thousands of people who attend every year most definitely do want to be there, which is why it continues to be one of the most popular and engaging music, film and comedy festivals in the U.S.

Timberland has been a part of the Festival’s backstage/artist hospitality area since the Festival’s second year, and we returned for our sixth time in 2008. With a crew consisting of myself; four members of our PR team and some great young college students we hired to help out (thanks, Jaysson and Matt), we were able to get some of our new spring and summer footwear on some great influencers, ranging from established entertainers like Chris Rock, O.A.R., Robert Randolph and Ben Folds, to on-the-rise artists such as Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Alana Grace and metal shredders the Sword.

Aside from the product we bring every year, our main goal is to engage the people who come to the booth. The reason that we choose Bonnaroo each year isn’t random: we go there because the artists who perform there tend to be socially-conscious and aside from loving their music, we feel that they are great people to talk to about some of the things we are doing as a company. On-site, the Clean Vibes crew worked tirelessly to make sure that attendees, artists and crew recycled and composted at every turn, which was also a great service and they deserve special props for the work they do there each year.

Because of the Festival’s green/eco-leaning ethos, we are able to talk to artists from all genres – from singer/songwriters to hip-hop innovators – about Timberland’s corporate social responsibility agenda; our long history of community service; and our eco-conscious approach to footwear and apparel, which continues to make great strides as each season goes on.

We also had another important goal which relates directly to this blog – to let Bonnaroo artists and visitors know more about the just-launched Earthkeeper Network. We had some laptops in the tent for people to explore all the different aspects of the Network (Facebook page, YouTube brand channel, this blog, and the Changents site), and people were clearly interested.

In addition to our own tent staff, we were fortunate to have several members of the Big Green Bus stop by each day. Andrew Zabel and his group of merry travelers were a great addition to our Earthkeeper Network discussions and people appreciated being able to talk to them in person about their impressive quest to teach the world, one city at a time, more about the viability of using sustainable and recycled fuel sources.

We also had the chance to introduce Andrew and his crew to some of the “talent” that we were talking to in our booth, including Willie Nelson’s longtime musical collaborator and harmonica player Mickey Raphael and the group State Radio (themselves part of the Reverb organization, another of our Earthkeeper Heroes), who Andrew and Arch from BGB had a chance to interview for their own blog.

All in all, our four days there were chaotic, never-endingly busy, but very fulfilling. We helped strengthen our bond with the great people of Bonnaroo (many thanks to Festival founder Victor Waryas, as well as the Robyn, Chad and Rich at Superfly Productions for making it another great year) and we continued to get the word out about our products and about how Timberland is deepening its dialogue with consumers and making us all think about our own footprints.

There might not have been too much running water or shade there in Manchester during the afternoons, but the good vibes and great people kept us cool until the sun set each day.

Brian Coleman, PR Manager
Timberland

But no miracle is without controversy, as this recent SNEWS® Live podcast  demonstrates.  With a variety of sources for offsets (renewable energy, reforestation and methane combustion among them), are all offsets created equal?  How can offset purchasers be sure they’re not buying “worthless” credits?  And what about the argument that offsets are nothing more than a way for environmental despoilers to pay for their sins, rather than changing their behavior?

As Earthkeepers, we believe in making conscious choices about our behavior to improve the environment, first and foremost – and that there’s always room to raise the bar.  We also believe there’s space on the environmental agenda for any initiative that contributes, credibly and meaningfully, to a lighter footprint and a greener planet.  This is one conversation we’ll continue to follow. 

Our thanks to the SNEWS® Live team and podcaster James Mills for shedding good light on this murky topic, and for allowing us to share it.

A few weeks back we introduced you to the Earthkeeper Heroes – five “change agents” we believe are doing exciting and compelling work to make the world a greener place. 

Agent 350 is one of those heroes – actually, a whole team of heroes – working around the clock and around the world to spread a global climate movement to make 350 the most well-known, most talked about number on the planet.

Agent 350 doesn’t have a lot going for them in the traditional sense; they’re not heavily bank-rolled, they’re not an elite group of environmental scientists, they’re not even terribly experienced (median age of the team is 23 years old).  That’s precisely why we love them.  They’re resourceful, creative, ambitious … wise beyond their years and great collaborators and conveners.  We believe in their endeavor – to unite voices around the globe in an unprecedented call to action on the climate crisis – and we believe they’re just the group to pull it off.

Agent 350 and his team have just reached the first milestone in mounting their global movement – launching 350’s home on the internet.  Our favorite website feature?  This “350 animation” video that summarizes, in 90 seconds flat and using not a single spoken word, the climate crisis and 350’s critical role in stemming it.  We think it’s powerful – dare we say earth-changing – stuff.

Here, three recent discussions around the issue of transparency that have caught our attention, and might pique yours as well:

o Triplepundit highlights Creative Citizen, an “action-based green wiki” that provides companies a forum to back their green product claims – and gives consumers the opportunity to weigh in with their own opinions and experiences.

o On Leading Green, Jeffrey Hollender and Bill Breen share their views on the new standard of transparency, including pros (transparency builds trust like no other) and cons (if your transparency efforts reveal a flaw, you’d better be prepared to fix it).

o Marc Gunther explores transparency in the context of relationships between big green environmental groups and corporate America, and reviews “Green Inc.” – a forthcoming book suggesting NGOs and business may be cultivating questionable ties.

Take 23-year old Elizabeth Redmond (www.changents.com/powerleaper) as an example of someone who definitely has the Earthkeepers DNA. Elizabeth is a self-described, “designtrepreneur” who is inspired by the fusion of human energy transfer and renewable energy. Now, on it’s own, that inspiration is amazing but when you consider how  Elizabeth translated her inspiration into a phenomenal idea and is now dedicated to putting that idea into action, amazing becomes somewhat of an understatement. 

Feeding her inspiration, Elizabeth set out to design interfaces that generate electricity from the human body as part of her undergraduate thesis work at the University of Michigan. That work led to her brainchild called the POWERleap. It was her “Ah ha” moment. It happened two and a half years ago, and it’s been the driving force behind everything she’s done since.

POWERleap is a flooring system that generates electricity from human movement through high foot-traffic areas. It’s also a concept that is meant to engage people to take responsibility for generating some of the electricity they use every day. Imagine the next time you take a jog through your local park in the evening. You’re running around a looped jogging path that is installed with the POWERleap technology. Every step you take creates energy that is repurposed to the nearby lights that illuminate your path around the track. Now that’s Earthkeeping! It’s engaging, inspiring and provocative.

Elizabeth has a busy summer planned in an effort to bring POWERleap to life in a powerful and meaningful way. She’s already met with the 2016 Olympic committee that’s vying to get Chicago named as the host city (http://www.changents.com/change-agents/powerleaper/field-reports/7829). Tomorrow night, June 17, she’s going to be on the Sundance Channel’s, “Big Ideas for a Small Planet” and later this summer she’s participating in a renewable energy think tank in San Francisco. You can follow Elizabeth, armed with her Earthkeepers DNA, in her efforts to bring POWERleap to life in a powerful, meaningful way at www.changents.com/powerleaper. In the spirit of Earthkeepers, I think you’ll agree…Elizabeth’s is an amazing story, and then some.

Margaret Morey-Reuner
Senior Manager
Values Marketing
The Timberland Company