It's hard to believe that the deadline is here. We have accomplished so much, but there is still so much work to be done. We will be working with our companies far into 2010, and we have many more companies that we have yet to call. This might be the end of the 2009 Project Polar Bear - but it is just the beginning for us.
We gave a great presentation today to the public at the Falls of the Ohio State Park. Between today and the presentation at Jefferson Memorial Forest, we raised $150 in donations to send to PBI. We have at least 4 presentations already planned for 2010, and we hope to have more fundraisers.
Presentation at the Falls of the Ohio
We have more numbers to report to you on commitments from companies. All Pets Veterinary Clinic has commited to 115,000 lbs. Our team has pledged to collect and recycle 10 bags per week, which adds up to 30,000 lbs. Maker's Mark Distillery has not gotten all of their data to us in time to meet our deadline. However, they were able to get us the number of light bulbs they will be replacing with fluorescents, which adds up to a huge number - 1,000,000 lbs. of CO2. They are going to make many other changes, but we weren't able to get the information to calculate the carbon emissions in time.
Our last number comes from Yum! Brands. They, too, have not been able to get the data together in time for all of their pledge. We were able to get some of it though, and we can announce that they are going to adjust thermostats and recycle. Yum has 40,000 restaurants around the world. They own 8,000 of those, which they are going to commit to putting the computers in those restaurants on sleep mode. This makes their total pledge 4,174,000 lbs. In addition, they are going to add our suggestion to put computers on sleep mode in their booklet that they give their restaurants on ways to be more efficient and save money. This could reach another possible 32,000 computers, which could bring in another 6,000,000 lbs.
In addition, UPS is going to make a pledge, but we have been unable to get the data we need to make our calculations. Their plan is to start their new actions in the Louisville offices, and then adopt the changes throughout their offices worldwide. This will be a huge amount of CO2!
We also want to report our pledges from individuals at our presentations and booths, which amount to 872,883 lbs.
And last, we are still working on pledges from several large groups, including Humana Insurance and the Boy Scouts of America.
Our grand total - which does not include the possible future pledges from our companies - adds up to
17,031,264 lbs!!!
We are very happy with our companies and their commitments to use less energy and change policy. We will be working with them all closely in 2010 to help them make the changes and to educate their employees.
We want to take this opportunity to thank PBI for creating Project Polar Bear. We also want to thank all of the sponsors which make the project possible, and our advisor and staff at the Louisville Zoo, who have been very helpful. Marcelle, Debbie, Kara, and Robert - we love you guys.
Through this project, we have seen that there is hope for the bears and that people will make the changes needed to keep the bears from going extinct. We dedicate ourselves to making sure that this does not happen, and to continue our work that we have started with this project. There for tomorrow - that's where we want the bears to be.
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