Cool the Earth is a non-profit organization offering a transformational program to corporations and schools -it motivates people to take actions to reduce their energy use.
Having recently successfully run our 4 month program at the corporate headquarters of Wells Fargo in San Francisco, we are looking for like-minded organizations that are ready to engage employees to reduce their carbon emissions at home and work.
"We were looking for a way to engage our team members in our corporate efforts to be more sustainable and save energy,” explains Rebecca Johnson SVP and Group Finance Officer for Wells Fargo. “Cool the Earth does such a good job at inspiring kids and their families to save energy and reduce carbon emissions, we thought it just might work with our team members.”
Cool the Earth’s corporate program works by introducing employees to the concepts of climate change and then providing them with coupon books containing 15 actions they can take right away to lower their emissions--from bringing in reusable bottles to work to pledging to carpool. Once an employee takes an action—they turn in their coupon, and the action is added to their team’s tally.
Traditionally run in elementary schools, this is the first time Cool the Earth is being run in a corporation. “After successfully reaching so many kids with our program, we’ve taken this well-studied technique and applied competitive and social drivers that are relevant in the corporate setting,” explains Cool the Earth founder and director Carleen Cullen, who first piloted the program in her kid’s school after deciding to take action to combat climate change in 2007.
“It’s exciting to be bringing this transformational program to Wells Fargo,” says Krista Van Tassel, team member engagement manager of Environmental Affairs for Wells Fargo, who has been involved in implementing Wells Fargo’s environmental commitments including a goal to reduce Wells Fargo’s GHG emissions 20% by 2018. “The Cool the Earth program provides a fun way to engage our team members and get them even more involved in helping us further integrate environmental responsibility into our everyday actions.”
In addition to its corporate program, this year Cool the Earth will expand to 125 schools and has developed new partnerships with Al Gore’s grassroots organization The Climate Project and Girl Scouts of America. With a state of the art web-based toolkit – at cooltheearth.org – the program supplies volunteer program coordinators from California to Maryland with everything they need to operate the program at their school, corporation or youth group. “Cool the Earth’s hope is to bring our program to every school and corporation in the country,” says Cullen. “Collectively, one action at a time, we can have a positive impact on the future.”
Cool the Earth has already been responsible for motivating over 40,000 kids and their families to take over 75,000 energy-saving actions to reduce their carbon emissions--eliminating approximately 50 million pounds of carbon from the atmosphere. The program is now reaching over 100 schools and youth groups in the Bay Area, and more than a dozen nation-wide.
