Download Tips for Encouraging Your Membership to Take Action - PA

Tips for Encouraging Your
Membership to Take Action
Palo Alto Non-Profits Go Green
April 14, 2009
Topics for Today
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The problem of climate change
The power of individual action
Effective approaches
Acterra programs
Acterra Action for a Sustainable Earth
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The problem we face
Climate Change Basics
• Greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane) trap
Sun’s heat within the atmosphere
• Earth heats up and climate patterns change -colder/hotter some places, more intense storms, etc.
• Sources of greenhouse gases: burning fossil fuels,
deforestation, livestock waste (methane)
• Negative feedback loops:
• Melting tundra emits even more methane
• Albedo effect: heat energy reflects from white ice,
is absorbed by dark ocean water
Acterra Action for a Sustainable Earth
A Planetary Emergency
“We are in imminent peril. We have at most 10 years — not
10 years to decide upon action — but 10 years to alter
fundamentally the trajectory of global greenhouse
emissions and take significant actions to reduce them.
“If not, we will hit a critical tipping point after which it
becomes impractical to make further changes. We are then
locked into disastrous effects including major coastal
flooding and droughts.”
-- Jim Hansen, NASA’s chief climate change scientist
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California Impacts of Climate Change
Climate change affects us
because…
• We have limited water
• We depend on Sierra
snow for water storage
• Our population is
growing into wilderness
areas
• California is a coastal
state
California Impacts
Climate change will cause
• Droughts
• Reduced Sierra snow pack
• Wildfires
• Sea level rise
Acterra Action for a Sustainable Earth
The Path to Climate Stabilization
“Business as Usual”
3
Gigatons of carbon emissions
2.6
2.5
Electricity end-use
efficiency
Building, business
efficiency
2
1.8
Passenger vehicle
efficiency
1.5
Other transport
efficiency
Renewables
1
Carbon emission
capture & storage
Embracing Change
0.5
0
1970
After Pascala & Socolow
1990
2010
2030
2050
The power of individual action
Can one person make a difference?
A stable climate
Technology
Policy
Change how people
Consume and creates a
demand for new
technologies
Change how People
Vote and creates
Support for Policy
Change
Change how People
think about the
environment
Change how People act
towards the environment
Behavior Change
Individuals Make a Difference
 The U.S. generates 25% of the world’s carbon emissions
 50% of U.S. emissions are directly caused by individuals
 Our buying decisions indirectly affect the other 50%
 You can reduce your carbon output by changing:
 Your car and airplane travel
 What you eat
 How much electricity and gas you use
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How do we compare?
 A U.S. household produces 55,000 pounds of CO2
in a year
 A German household: 27,000 pounds
 A Swedish household: 15,000 pounds
 We can do better
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US Energy Consumption by Sector
Source: Energy Information Administration
The Opportunity
Our actions make a difference
 Our homes are a big source of wasted energy
 People are learning: saving energy means saving
money AND curbing climate change.
 We can help people make
changes.
Acterra Action for a Sustainable Earth
Effective solutions
Leveraging individual actions to create a
collective tipping point.
How do we get more people started?
What Works, What Doesn’t
Information is not enough to create
behavior change
Effective public health & conservation programs
leverage individual actions to create a tipping point
that changes behavior of many people.
Think about
-- Changes in smoking habits
-- The growth of recycling
Acterra Action for a Sustainable Earth
Making it “Cool” to Change
 Specific, easy steps -- Suggest very specific things to do.
 Measurable results -- Demonstrate specific savings in
money,energy and CO2 reductions.
 Written pledge -- Strengthens commitment to new behavior.
 Visible prompts -- Reminders for new behaviors.
 Incentives -- Public recognition may foster completion of goals.
 Peer support -- Behavior change is more likely when peers make
a shift together.
 Bandwagon effect -- Change social norms through visible signs
of participation. This encourages others to join in the effort.
Proven Strategy #1: Specific Steps
 Give people
specific tasks to do
-- install energy efficiency devices
 And specific habits
to build
-- identify new conservation habits
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Proven Strategy #2: Count it Up
 Measurable results
 Start with a baseline measurement of current
energy use.
 Make a record of savings -- by individuals and of
your group as a whole.
 Focus on high-impact
changes for even better
results.
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Proven Strategy #3: Commitment
 Written Pledge
 Strengthens commitment to new behavior
 Palo Alto’s free bag for a signed pledge
 How can you incorporate
a signature into your
program ?
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
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Proven Strategy #4: Make it visible
 Use prompts as reminders for new
behaviors
 “Shut off your engine -- Children breathing here”
 Harness the power of the
aggregate
 Show how it all adds up -think of a barn-raising!
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Proven Strategy #5: Incentives
 Saving money is one incentive
 But the amounts may be small
 Example: Carpool lanes
and hybrid stickers
 Public recognition may
be another perk.
 Be careful not to shame those who don’t
participate or follow through
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Proven Strategy #6: Peer Support
 Tap the power of social support groups
 Think of Weight Watchers, AA,Team-in-Training,
Toastmasters
 Why they work
 Support network for trying new things
 Accountability to others
 Fun and community
building
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Proven Strategy #7: Social Norms
 Change social norms
 In times of uncertainty, people look around at
others for what to do
 Classic experiment in Times Square
 Visible signs of participation encourage
others to act
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Recycling bins out on Tuesday morning
Brown lawns during a drought
Use your own mug
Green gifts for your hostess
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Acterra’s CO2 reduction
programs
Green@Home -- for volunteers & residents
ACTerraGREEN -- for organized groups
How Green@Home Works
 Education AND action -- using proven social
marketing strategies
 Face-to-face info sharing is most effective method
 Leverages volunteer power to offer free service
 Volunteers
 Help residents install simple energy-saving devices
 Work with residents to create a customized energy
saving plan
 Become advocates for behavior changes
 Builds community through neighbor-to-neighbor
approach
 Creates bandwagon effect with lawn signs
HouseCall Upgrades
Additional HouseCall Actions
 Review utility bill
 Energy Audit: Measure energy usage throughout
house and identify opportunities for savings
 Suggest additional upgrades or conservation
habits
 Discuss resources and handouts with resident
 Complete customized energy saving plan
 Ask resident for signed commitment to next steps
Green@Home: 2008-09
Current Locations:
Menlo Park
Palo Alto
Redwood City
Sunnyvale
Cupertino
Acterra Action for a Sustainable Earth
The ACTerraGREEN Campaign
What is ACTerraGREEN?
A group program to help everyone save energy
For people who want to make changes,
but don’t know where to start
A simple, effective campaign
Lasts 4 to 6 months
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How Does ACTerraGREEN Work?
 Your Green Team plans a launch event
 Monthly “challenges” & surveys engage
participants
 Website & E-mail group offer detailed action
steps, suggestions, and feedback
 Survey results & outreach activities keep
participants connected
Acterra Action for a Sustainable Earth
The Invitation and Pledge
Launching an ACTerraGREEN Campaign requires:
 A Green Team
 An invitation describing the
campaign and encouraging
everyone to sign up
 A pledge event to show
how many people are
committed to participate
Peninsula School families added
rocks to this jar, showing how
many pledged to participate
Website & E-mail Group
A customized website describes
monthly challenges and other
resources
A community e-mail group
to share results, ideas and
news
About Monthly Challenges
• One-time actions, such as swapping all your
incandescent bulbs for compact fluorescents.
• Repeated actions that become habits over time,
such as using personal water bottles instead of buying
bottled water.
Monthly Challenges
ACTerraGREEN provides written info each
month on topics like:
 Winter heat
 Things you plug in
 Your consumer footprint
 Holidays
 Transportation
 Water
Monthly Surveys & Results
Surveys are
• Conducted on-line*
• Once a month
• Take just a minute
• Anonymous
• Totaled up to produce
graph of community results
(at right)
* Non-computer users may request paper copies
ACTerraGREEN Outreach Activities
Ideas some communities have used:
 Hand out free CFLs
 Cookie baking demonstration: toaster vs.
conventional oven
 “Don’t Idle” driveway education
 Screen “An Inconvenient Truth” or “Hoot”
 Host a “Green Tea” to socialize and share ideas
 Organize a carpool initiative
 Provide a Home Greening Kit: Kill-a-Watt meters,
indoor/outdoor thermometers, caulking guns, etc.
 Speakers to discuss specific environmental topics
Benefits to Your Community Group
 Brings people together around the common
goal to fight climate change.
Gives your staff an opportunity to engage in
social change on a first-hand basis.
 Allows you to serve as a model for other
communities interested in “going green.”
Some Successes So Far
Peninsula School:
• 75% of families participated (about 162 families)
• Participants took over 1500 actions to reduce home
energy use
Las Lomitas & La Entrada Schools:
• 265 families
• Over 2500 actions to reduce their home energy use
• Actions in first four months saved 120.6 tons of CO2
– equivalent to planting 9,647 trees or taking 22.1 cars
off the road.
Now providing campaigns at:
• Six churches & synagogues in Silicon Valley
• Genencor, Palo Alto
• Skoll Foundation, Palo Alto
-- and more!
Get Involved: ACTerraGREEN
To start an ACTerraGREEN campaign,
Contact Ellen Wilkinson at Acterra:
[email protected]
(650) 962-9876, ext. 353
Acterra Action for a Sustainable Earth
“Be the change”
you want to see”
in the world.”
-- Mahatma Gandhi
”
Action: Lightbulbs
 Replace a 100W incandescent bulb with a
26W compact fluorescent bulb of the same
brightness
 Save $68 over the life of the bulb
 Prevent release of 490 pounds of CO2
 Equivalent to not burning 25 gallons
of gas in your car
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Action: Turn Down Your Thermostat
 Change the heater
temperature to 68°
when people are home
and 55°- 58° when house
is empty.
 For cooling, set it to 75°- 78° when people
are home and OFF when people are away.
 You’ll save 1,400 lbs of CO2 /year.
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Action: Turn Down Water Heater
 Change the heater
temperature to 120°
 You’ll save 150 lbs
of CO2 /year.
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Action: “Solar” Clothes Dryer
 Set up a clothesline save 260 Lbs of CO2
per load.
 You may save over
3,120 lbs CO2 /year.
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Action: Eat Less Meat
 Livestock sector responsible for 18% of all
greenhouse gas emissions, a higher share than
transportation.
 Switch from a meat-eating to a plant-based diet,
save 1.5 tons of CO2 a year — that’s 50% more than
the 1 ton you would save by replacing your regular
sedan with a Prius!
Skip meat one day a week,
and prevent up to 428 lbs.
of greenhouse gases annually.
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Action: Tune Up Your Car
 Burning a gallon of gasoline generates 20
lbs CO2
 A tuned-up engine can improve fuel
efficiency by 30%.
 Properly inflated car tires can save 3-5%
more gasoline, too.
 Make an appointment for a tune-up.
 Learn to check your tire pressure regularly.
 You’ll save 1,500 lbs of CO2 /year !
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Action: Drive Less
 You may save over 2,000 lbs CO2 /year.
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Action: Reduce Water Usage
20% of the energy used in California goes to
pump, heat or treat water.
 Install a low-flush toilet.
Rebates may be available.
 Call Santa Clara Valley
Water District for a FREE
“water wise” check up.
-- www.valleywater.org/conservation
-- SCVWD also offers rebates for water saving
irrigation systems.
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Action: Use Fewer Chemicals
Household chemicals
-- Pollute water & poison wildlife
-- May be affecting human health
Concerned about your products?
visit Environmental Working Group
www.ewg.org for a list of products &
practices
-- Cosmetic safety database
-- Guide to pesticides in produce
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