A new campaign designed to reach non-responsive “echo boomers” has struck a cord. The combination of popular sex appeal in the form of America’s favorite online video starlet, Obama Girl, with cash prizes and a call to alumni pride has succeeded where others have feared to tread.
America’s Greenest Campus is a campaign targeting young adults, and is the first national competition among colleges to reduce the carbon footprints of their students, faculty, alumni and staff. Anyone with an “.edu” email address can sign up and join the campus network to reduce its carbon footprint. Climate Culture provides online resources to help schools save energy and created an online community where visitors can trade energy efficiency tips.
In addition to bragging rights, there is some serious money up for grabs as well - $5,000 to the school with the most students, alumni and staff to sign up, $5,000 for the campus that reduces its carbon footprint the most and $10,000 in the SmartPower Energy Smart Ad Challenge — a total of $20,000 in prize money.
Currently leading the pack is George Mason University, with 894 members and a 2.66% reduction.
Brian Keene, CEO and founder of Smart Power, one of the lead partners for this contest said, “We concluded from a New England study [that] young adults were impressed by positive correlations between their actions and the big picture, unplugging devices was by far the most popular act of conservation, and that there is an emotional benefit to energy efficiency.”
At My Green Element we intend to follow this campaign and the contest so we can learn if young people can be persuaded to adopt energy usage practices that translate into positive social currency and visibility through various social media. Our measure is a simple one – will it move the dial and persuade young people to actively participate in recognizing the important reducing all of our carbon footprints.
The winners will be announced by Oct. 5, and will be determined by calculating the number of participants from each school and the largest percentage of carbon emissions reduced.
Grant Draper at FD Element
America’s Greenest Campus is a campaign targeting young adults, and is the first national competition among colleges to reduce the carbon footprints of their students, faculty, alumni and staff. Anyone with an “.edu” email address can sign up and join the campus network to reduce its carbon footprint. Climate Culture provides online resources to help schools save energy and created an online community where visitors can trade energy efficiency tips.
In addition to bragging rights, there is some serious money up for grabs as well - $5,000 to the school with the most students, alumni and staff to sign up, $5,000 for the campus that reduces its carbon footprint the most and $10,000 in the SmartPower Energy Smart Ad Challenge — a total of $20,000 in prize money.
Currently leading the pack is George Mason University, with 894 members and a 2.66% reduction.
Brian Keene, CEO and founder of Smart Power, one of the lead partners for this contest said, “We concluded from a New England study [that] young adults were impressed by positive correlations between their actions and the big picture, unplugging devices was by far the most popular act of conservation, and that there is an emotional benefit to energy efficiency.”
At My Green Element we intend to follow this campaign and the contest so we can learn if young people can be persuaded to adopt energy usage practices that translate into positive social currency and visibility through various social media. Our measure is a simple one – will it move the dial and persuade young people to actively participate in recognizing the important reducing all of our carbon footprints.
The winners will be announced by Oct. 5, and will be determined by calculating the number of participants from each school and the largest percentage of carbon emissions reduced.
Grant Draper at FD Element