We have been extremely busy talking to companies and groups in our area, and are pleased to add these names with their pledges to our results:
- Boomer's Cafe and Catering - 41,272 lbs. CO2
- Dr. Shellie Branson, DMD - 22,080 lbs.
- Generation 14 - 7,459 lbs.
- Crestwood Chiropractic - 5,548 lbs.
- Coffee Affair - 4,748 lbs.
- Drs. Kall and Albers, DMD - 24,296
We thought that would also begin to share some of the news from the big companies that we are working with. We have been following these pledges for months now, involving a great amount of meetings, e-mails, telephone calls, and generally hard work.
- UPS - we are working on calculating several actions for them. We are also excited about a project with them that will lay the groundwork for a company-wide effort. We will be issuing a challenge number of CO2 pounds to be met by UPS employees, somewhat like a fundraiser. Employees will make a personal pledge to reduce CO2, and UPS will encourage these pledges by offering competitions among departments. If this is successful, UPS will adopt this program company-wide.
- The Norton Healthcare System is going to work with us in a big way. We are still calculating numbers for our pledge for actions that they are going to start now, but they are planning on going green in a big way, and their CO2 reductions will continue to grow in 2010. They are going to turn off their computers at night, adjust thermostats, replace light bulbs, and do more recycling. Emily will be giving a presentation on future plans to their staff on February 1st of next year. In addition, they will be hosting four events next year for the community where people can drop off all unwanted electronics for free. They are planning a conference for themselves and other Louisville healthcare groups where they talk about ways for healthcare to go green.
- The New Albany Floyd County School System is going to make a huge pledge by turning off computers at night and adjusting thermostats. We are in the process of calculating the numbers.
- We have an appointment with Yum! Brands next week. We are excited about that one!
- We are in negotiations with the Hot Topic stores on options they can adopt.
- We are also talking to Cinemark about making changes nationwide.
- And one of our most exciting negotiations is with the State of Kentucky for their state offices. This pledge might not come to fruition until after the first of the year, but it will be a big coup if we are able to get them to commit.
Other news includes a presentation that we gave to a local green group called the Louisville Sustainability Forum. This is a group that meets monthly to discuss green issues in our area.
Emily speaking to the Louisville Sustainability Forum.
We also wanted to tell you about a new contact we have made, with the Louisville Climate Action Network. The president of this group is Sarah Lynne Cunningham, who has a PhD in environmental science. She was able to answer some important questions we had about climate change numbers. We also asked her if she had looked at our website and if she thought our calculations on CO2 were accurate. She told us that they were right on track, and that she had actually used some of the information from our website on the CAN website. That's validation!
As you can see, we have been extremely busy. We are beginning to realize that many of thes projects we have started in companies will not be over on Dec. 31st. They will continue on into 2010, and we hope that we will be able to make huge changes in the carbon footprint of the Louisville area.
We will get get those bears back on solid ice!
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