Make Everyday Earth Day

April 22nd, 1970 was the first time Earth Day was celebrated. Rallies were organized coast-to-coast and waves of students from thousands of colleges and universities participated in mass protest of unfriendly environmental practices. Even primary and secondary schools participated -- approximately ten thousand, according to the EPA.

Alongside non-profits and activists, everyday people shared the vision of saving the earth and its wildlife. As knowledge heightened around the issues of oil spills, polluting factories, raw sewage, toxic dumps and environmental destruction; hope blossomed.

Our first Earth Day mobilized 20 million Americans. “It worked because of the spontaneous, enthusiastic response at the grassroots. Nothing like it had ever happened before. While our organizing on college campuses was very well done, the thousands of events in our schools and our communities were self-generated at the local level… They simply organized themselves. That was the remarkable thing that became Earth Day.” (Senator Gaylor Nelson, Founder of the first Earth Day)

Today, approximately 500 million people will take part. Largely, we have the internet to thank. Hundreds of millions of people can be called to action with little to no cost. Many of the newborn social entrepreneurs will be our children.

According to a recent survey, 68% of the teen respondents indicated their families were not as green as they could be. Of the respondents, 46% indicated that global warming is the most important environmental issue to them.

Consider Alec Loorz, who at age 12 founded Kids vs Global Warming with the purpose of educating kids about global warming and empowering them to take action. Now 14 years old, he is the youngest person trained to present Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth slide show in the United States.

Likewise, brands, in recognition of this “New Era of Responsibility” have developed new socially-conscious initiatives such as cause-marketing campaigns, higher engagements of corporate social responsibility and for-profit philanthropy models. A few examples come to mind:

• Last month, Whole Foods Market partnered with Teens Turning Green to launch a nationwide contest entitled “Project Green Prom.” Designed to encourage teens around the country to make earth-friendly decisions and purchases around prom season, this campaign kicked off with an online video contest for high school juniors and seniors to propose how they might green their prom.
• CardsDirect.com launched an Earth Day Campaign that encourages primary school children (K-5) to utilize specially-designed greetings printed on 100% recycled cardstock.
• MasterCard mirrors the millennial generation’s heightened levels of awareness in their new “Lessons” ad campaign (shown below).

Earth Day is an opportunity for children to learn to cultivate their love and appreciate their world. How might parents challenge their kids?

• Plant a garden! You can request a packet of Campbell’s tomato seeds (with proof of purchase of condensed soup) and 100 seeds will be donated to communities and schools across the United States.
• Hidden Valley® also has a website encouraging kids to “Love Your Veggies” with games and gardening tips. If you cannot plant a garden you can still plant a virtual flower through Electrolux’s virtual flower garden campaign and $1 will be donated to Global Green USA’s initiatives for healthy green schools.
• Take the Nature Conservancy’s challenge to put down the mouse and get out of the house! You and your family can “spring outside” by taking a hike, flying a kite, taking a walk in the park, planting a tree, etc.
• You can also pre-purchase tickets to the opening week of Disneynature’s “earth” (opening on Earth Day) and Disney will plant a tree in your honor.
• “Turn over a new leaf” and support national parks by shopping! Macy’s and the National Park Foundation are partnering to raise awareness and funds to support our national parks. By making a $5 donation, you receive a shopping pass for Saturday, April 25th. On Earth Day, the first 150 kids at each Macy’s store will receive a copy of “Kid Power”, an activity book that teaches kids about how they can help the environment. The book can also be downloaded online.

Consider the planet when making purchases throughout the year. A number of forward-thinking companies offer innovative products that address environmental issues:

• ChicoBag is a reusable bag made from 7 plastic bottles
• EcoUsable recently introduced the world’s first stainless steel filtered water bottle
• AQUAMANTRA will be launching the world’s first 100% biodegradable and recyclable bottle in June
• The Living Christmas Company rents live Christmas trees and picks them up after the holidays

Let’s try to make every day Earth Day!

Yes They Can!

Christine Guardia, who is the Cause Cultivator for KooDooZ Corporation, co-authored this blog entry with me:

Having the ability to positively impact our world and the people in it is powerful – and volunteerism is key. A grassroots engagement of friends & family in support of a charity or a cause can have impact like no other effort.

Those of us focused in this sector know that the economic riptides have cut program managers from non-profit budgets at a time when demand for more volunteers is growing.

I can think of 80-million people who are willing and able to help right now – our Millennial kids (born 1982-2003) -- is a generation of young people who are civic-minded, success-driven, and environmentally conscious. Let's take the charge!

Kids take their cues from people who are a part of their world – namely their parents, teachers, coaches, religious leaders and their friends. Youth blessed with role-models who volunteer are nearly twice as likely to volunteer than kids without philanthropic counterparts (Corporation for National and Community Service, November 2005).

KooDooZ strongly advocates for a higher engagement of volunteerism in a child’s life. Not only does it go hand-in-hand with what the Edu2.0 thought-leaders are saying, it statistically increases scholastic progress.

Sadly, less than a quarter of public K-12 schools have service-learning activities (Corporation for National and Community Service, November 2008). On the other hand, most of our high schools do require volunteerism hours to graduate, but this effort seems to be one step forward and two steps backwars since 16-to-24 year olds had the lowest volunteer participation rate (21.9%) in our country.

But there is hope.

Dub it the “Obama Effect” if you’d like, the fact that we had the largest volunteerism engagement in 14 years, earmarked by the 162% increase of volunteer projects on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day speaks well to this point (see the Corporation for National and Community Service report).

It is very telling that corporations across the country have become bigger influencers via their cause marketing campaigns and their willingness to provide project funding and allowing employees to take time off to volunteer.

We would like to take this moment to profile some examples of 2009 campaigns aimed to help America:

HUNGER RELIEF:

1. Feeding America partners with both Campbell’s V8 on the “Make Every Serving Count” campaign and General Mills and The Biggest Loser on the “Pound For Pound Challenge”
2. To address childhood hunger, Share Our Strength partners with AT&T on “Operation No Kid Hungry” and Ferrero on “Share Something Sweet”

EDUCATION:

1. Kohl’s Corporation benefits kids across the nation with their “Cares for Kids” program
2. Colgate-Palmolive celebrates the joy of reading with its “Healthy Bedtime Habits” program

ACTIVISM & ENGAGEMENT:

1. Starbucks earned the pledge of 1.2 million volunteer hours so far via their

I’m In web page

In honor of the inauguration, Ben & Jerry’s scoop shops sold “Yes Pecan!” ice cream during the month of January and donated the proceeds to the Common Cause Education Fund

Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes “Get Your Stripes” campaign

Pedigree Dog Food is sponsoring pet meal donations in addition to their "New Leashes on Life" campaign, which advocates for adopting dogs from a shelter.

We now have an opportunity to show kids how they can help turn our nation’s challenges into achievements, such as by volunteering at a food bank, mentoring younger students or donating food, clothes, toys and books. If you and your kids (11-15 yrs) would like to be part of the KooDooZ private beta program, send an email to info@KooDooZ.com.

Says Christine: I consider my work here so important because KooDooZ aims to engage kids and families in activism 2.0

Teeter-Totter & Twitter

We are officially in private beta in just a few short weeks! As a result, I have had precious little time to contribute to this blog. As a counter-balance, I thought I'd share some of my recent tweets:

1. To stay relevant, schools need to keep pace with the rapid changes introduced by Digital Media http://tinyurl.com/65c4c4 MacArthur 3yr Study
   
   
2. Banning fast food ads from youth TV programs could result in 18% less of overweight children in the U.S. http://tinyurl.com/5dpj76
   
   
3. 25 young social entrepreneurs around the globe receive grants $300,000+ http://tinyurl.com/5uuukk from Starbucks Foundation
   
   
4. Spell it correctly and raise money for your school! http://tinyurl.com/6jwvxf Gr8 challenge for kids grades 3-thru-8. Deadline 12/19!
   
   
5. No surprise to see the humanization of brands because people love brands that show more of a human side.
   
   
6. 87% of online community are participating in social causes that are new to them http://tinyurl.com/39wfrt 2008 Digital Future Project (USC)
   
   
7. "Dedication + Knowledge = Success" http://tinyurl.com/5gn89a New ad campaign to counteract the anti-education messages in media.
   
   
8. "Causism will replace consumerism” http://tinyurl.com/6fu3po Micro-trends for 2009 show that cause marketing will be more prominent.
   
   
9. 68% of K-12 schools offer community service opp'tys http://tinyurl.com/5gy8ct Youth who volunteer now are more civic-minded as adults
   
   
10. Free play fosters abstract thinking! http://tinyurl.com/5dclkw w/out it America's youth will be at a disadvantage in the global economy

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/KooDooZ

Strategic Giving in a Down Economy

Today I twittered about strategic giving opportunities that can make an impact in a down-economy. Arabella Advisors – a company which focuses on strategy, insight & analysis to help clients reach their philanthropic goals – produced a report today focused on 7 urgent & under-funded issues in which donors can make a high-impact difference:


1/ POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT (encourage lasting political participation with the Millennial generation)

2/ GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS (Help by improving agricultural productivity, supporting local & women farmers and increasing awareness of agricultural policies in developed countries)

3/ CLIMATE CHANGE (fund green and cutting-edge technological innovations)

4/ CONFLICT RESOLUTION (don’t overlook youth, who have the greatest opportunity to reduce conflict in the future. Consider funding kids programs)

5/ DISASTER RELIEF (Hundreds of millions of people from more than 100 countries each year don’t get enough long-term support after a disaster)

6/ ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (contributions that impact students & community colleges will have an important impact on the local economy)

7/ GLOBAL HEALTH (Some of the most prevalent diseases are highly treatable at a very low cost. Drive awareness to these neglected diseases and help save 1B of the world’s poorest people who are needlessly suffering).

KooDooZ was founded with the purpose of exposing more families to important causes and bring greater awareness to the non-profits and brands that are actively working in the space to make a change for a social good. I am personally welcoming any and all stories of engagement in this capacity and would like to promote said organizations and the leaders at their helm.

~Lee

Giving Thanks/Back

By Christine Guardia

Now that Halloween is over, we start to turn our focus to the upcoming holiday season. I believe taking time to reflect upon what we are thankful for in our lives is important during this time of year. For example, we recently voted in an election with a black candidate for president and a female candidate for vice president. So I suggest we all take a few minutes this holiday season to focus less on the gifts we are receiving (or not receiving) and focus more on the gifts we already have, such as our family, friends and freedom.

I recently toured A Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City presented by Doctors Without Borders, an international humanitarian organization. A nurse practitioner, who has worked in refugee camps in Africa, led me through the camp, explaining how refugees often travel long distances to camps, have to wait for rations of water and food, are susceptible to contagious diseases and traumatic stress, and sometimes spend years in camps. The organization employs over 25,000 employees around the world and relies almost entirely on support from individuals, foundations and corporations.

During these difficult economic times, supporting nonprofits is more important because the need for their services often increases during economic downturns. I realize that many people may not be able to donate as much this year, but there are other ways you can help, such as through your purchasing power. As U2’s Bono said at the Starbucks meeting announcing the company is joining the (PRODUCT)RED campaign, “This is not charity; this is commerce.” (Andrea James, Seattle PI, 10/29/08) Every time you go to the supermarket, to the mall or online to purchase something, you have choices because of cause-marketing pioneers, including Newman’s Own, American Express and Ben & Jerry’s. The recent PR Week/Barkley Cause Survey found that 66% of the moms surveyed have purchased a product because it was related to a cause. For example, Whole Foods Markets are selling Aquamantra I AM GRATEFUL enhanced water this month and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to Nourish America.

In addition to purchasing power, we have the power of web 2.0 to change the world. A new book, CauseWired by Tom Watson, chronicles the emergence of online activism and philanthropy, such as Causes within Facebook and Kiva, which allows users to micro-finance entrepreneurs in developing countries. Philanthropy is not limited to the Rockefellers, Gateses or Buffetts; we can all have an impact and it does not have to be by writing a large check – it can be by adding a cause badge to your social networking profile, buying an item affiliated with a cause or volunteering at a local nonprofit (you can find volunteering opportunities in your community via volunteermatch).

So please take a few moments this holiday season to think about what you are thankful for and how you can give back, including:

• Purchasing products associated with causes
• Raising awareness of causes
• Volunteering