Posts Tagged ‘earth hour’

In the past few weeks our Commute Greener team has been working on an exciting new project connected to an upcoming environmental event. Can you guess what event we have in mind? It’s the Earth Hour! This year it will be happening on Saturday, 23^rd March between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. local time , so don’t forget to switch off your lights! This is done every year all over the world to make people reflect on the need of taking actions on climate change.

We propose that you take your actions straight away. Commute Greener application is a tool that can help you to contribute to a greener planet on a daily basis, by encouraging you to commute to work in more environmental ways.

On the occasion of Earth Hour we have created a special challenge that  will be active for two weeks, between 18^th March and 1^st April. This time all active participants (with more than zero points) will have a chance to be rewarded for their efforts, since we’ll randomly choose winners between them. We really want you to encourage your friends, family and colleagues to join the challenge, not only for a good cause and fun, but also to increase everyone’s chances to win commuter gear! The entry goal starts already at 30 participants, and when there are more there will be more rewards. Furthermore, there are kids with special needs in Brazil that will get a better situation thanks to a bus ride. So please invite your fellow commuters, join the Earth Hour challenge and commute greener!

Download the free application from Apple Store for iPhones and Google Play for Androids. Or use it through facebook Appcenter. On your Commute Greener profile go to “Your challenges” in the upper right corner, click on the Earth Hour challenge and tick the “Join” option. Now start commuting greener and receive points for your improvements. Good luck!

To learn more about the Earth Hour please visit http://earthhour.org/ . If you would like to have a look at the global challenges created in the “I will if you will” spirit go to http://www.earthhour.org/iwill . If you would like to support WWF join our WWF challenge on Commute Greener and influence our contribution to its Swedish branch.

Have you heard the line before? I do agree with Joni Mitchell in her line that “You don’t know what you have got till it’s gone…”. Today, marks WWF Earth Hour, and time pass quickly, you can never regain a lost hour so do the best you can with focus on sustainable results…

For me this hour is planned with some friends to climb a small mountain and in a picnic reflect upon on how Goteborg will turn off the lights for an hour. At the same time it marks a start to turn on WWF.commutegreener.com

We encourage everyone to take one step more, get measurable feedback and contribute to positive change. Let’s not come to discover that “They paved paradise to put up a parking lot”.

I hope it is ok to share this video for a good cause and maybe you like to share a favorite as well?  Enclose a link into a comment or place at the Facebook page which, by the way, just got the timeline

Commute Greener!

Hundreds of millions of people, businesses and governments around the world unite these years to support the largest environmental event in history – Earth Hour.  More than 5,200 cities and towns in 135 countries worldwide switched off their lights for Earth Hour 2011 alone, sending a powerful message for action on climate change. We asked ourself, what happens if we engage for more than one hour?  Is it possible to get measurable change?  Can joy and pleasure increase during everyday travels?

YES must be the answer. Today we are extra happy to enable WWF in Sweden to take one step more by introducing activities that will keep going even after the Earth Hour day. Everyone that signs up for the Earth Hour will get a free invitation to use a dedicated version of Commute Greener!

WWF.commutegreener.com

“Commute Greener fits perfectly as an extension to Earth Hour. Commute Greener addresses the climate issues in a positive way during everyday travel.  Direct feedback is given to each individual in order to encourage more environmentally sustainable ways of living,” says Torbjörn Hegedüs, Communication Director at WWF Sweden, and continues: “We hope a large number of people will sign up on the WWF site for Commute Greener!  It’s possible to start directly and challenge yourself, as well as friends and colleagues, in an exciting climate campaign.”

It is time to get going for a better environment, gain money, time, health and have fun, now also with Facebook login. Set the target on sustainable transport solutions while on the way we will provide even further gamification aspects. We support the WWF encouragement to take on challenges. “I will IF you will”  #IWIYW so to say, what will you?

One of the worlds biggest environmental manifestations are due to take place tomorrow. Earth Hour. To turn all the lights of for 60 minutes isn’t a big deal really. Even if every lamp on the planet was turned of for one hour we wouldn’t save the climate. And not every light will be turned of, after all we can’t shut of civilization. However Earth Hour is a very powerful symbol. A Symbol of our will to do something about climate change.

Global warming and climate change are one of the biggest threats to us right now. The world is in danger. Maybe not today or tomorrow but in a few years the catastrophe may happen. Everybody will have to pitch in and change for us to mitigate the damages, especially as the worlds population is growing at a rapid pace and thus making it even more difficult to turn the trend. Symbols like Earth Hour are needed to inspire that change. Or as Ban Ki-moon, the UN general secretary put it;

“Tomorrow, let us join together to celebrate this shared quest to protect the planet and ensure human well-being. Let us use 60 minutes of darkness to help the world see the light.”

Will you join in and turn of the lights for 60 minutes? Of course you will, this is something really easy after all. Will you take some other actions to save the climate? Probably not. Most people won’t, and that’s really sad. If taken in baby steps, changing to a more sustainable, greener if you will, lifestyle isn’t that difficult. Big changes, like insulating the house and fixing the heater or installing solar panels or getting a new green car is one thing. These are major changes. But small things, like buying locally produced food and products, not buying bottled water, grow some vegetables (possible in an apartment too, you just need to be smart about it), have a compost and start to recycle are easy and can even save money for you. Not only that but they give you a sense of accomplishment as well. Another route is to reduce the use of the car in favor for active zero emission or public transportation, another easy change.

For more people to make these choices there have to be awareness campaigns. And here Earth Hour really shines (that doesn’t sound right…). The more people that participate the stronger the awareness becomes. In other words, if you care about making other people see that there are those who are aware of the catastrophe that is climate change AND willing to go the extra mile to do something about it, join in. If you just worry about the prospect of climate change, join in. Show that you care.

I will turn of every light in my house tomorrow. Not because it will save the world but because I care and support this action against climate change. I am going to use these 60 minutes to help the see world the light. I am just one. But many will do the same. Will you be one of them?

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Fredrik