Consumer Challenges – Count Me In!

Ah, there’s nothing that Canadians like better than a challenge. 

August 14th marks the anniversary of the North American blackout in 2003. So organizers of Count Me In! thought it would be the perfect date to choose for their community challenge. 

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to rally your community to join. The winning community is the one with the highest percentage drop in electricity consumption on August 14 or by having the highest per capita participation in the pledge drive. Count Me In is an example of how consumer challenges are raising awareness and changing habits.

And there are others. Take last year’s One Million Acts of Green. 

The campaign asked Canadian residents to make one single environmentally-friendly change and track it by logging onto the site. The campaign started on October 21, 2008 and the goal of one million acts was reached in February – four months ahead of schedule, and only 105 days after the movement was launched. 

It was so successful in fact, that One Million Acts of Green announced in June that it was going global. Members from other countries are now encouraged to sign on with their acts, and a U.S. viral site is also in the works.

These Canadian success stories are powered by small and simple changes. There are many ways to act Green. It can be as simple as changing light bulbs or driving less, and they are proving that one small act can make a big environmental difference.

Game on, Ontario!