Mob mentality goes green with CarrotmobBC
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Image by Flickr / Charleston’s TheDigitel
Vancouver Carrotmob swarms Main Street's Salt Spring Coffee, May 16, 2010.
May 16, Vancouver's first carrot mob swarms Main Street's Salt Spring Coffee, empowering consumers to vote with their dollars
The Carrotmob concept is simple. Putting a positive spin on the boycott, the Carrotmob "buycotts" a chosen business for making a pledge to reduce its carbon footprint. The group uses the old idea of the "carrot and stick" to entice businesses to commit to green initiatives and rewards them with a flash mob of conscientious customers.
The organizers pre-select businesses that promise to spend a portion of their day’s revenue on environmentally conscious investments, and the public votes for a winner who will play host to the friendly mob.
Since its 2008 inception in San Francisco, Carrotmob initiatives have been sprouting up as far away as Australia and as close to home as Victoria.
The Lower Mainland’s first Carrotmob will strike between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. at Salt Spring Coffee on Main St. Throngs of environmentally aware consumers will flood into the shop to put their dollars toward a good cause.
Salt Spring won the favour of the mob by pledging 110 percent of their profits toward energy efficient lighting for the store.
Emily Jubenvill, a one of the dedicated organizers behind the Vancouver Carrotmob, is a believer in the power of individual efforts that make these kinds of initiatives successful.
"With a little organization, the Carrotmob adds up these individual actions to mean something significant and tangible—something that anyone can recognize has an impact," said Jubenvill.
She is also a part of Small Feet Inc., the sustainability partner for the Vancouver Carrotmob. Small Feet met with the competing businesses to discuss energy saving opportunities.
"It was great to see how positive and enthusisastic the response from the owners was—even from those who hadn't previously though a lot about the changes their business could make," said Jubenvill of the Vancouver Carrotmob candidates.
Costumed Carrotmobbers line up at Wannawafel in Victoria. (Image: The Martlet)
Queen Street Grocery in South Carolina cashes in on the Carrotmob. (Image: Flickr / Charleston's TheDigitel)
Check out the video below to hear from Ronda Simpson at Salt Spring Coffee about being “carbon cool” and the company's goal of being carbon neutral.
And don’t forget to stop by on Sunday—we know you’re going to be drinking coffee, so why not enjoy it with a mob of like-minded friends?
Kristen Gladiuk is a born and raised BC girl and a Master of Publishing student at SFU. She blogs at http://www.kage-g.blogspot.com about her insatiable appetite for books, live music, food & wine, and has been known to write a post or two about DIY wedding planning.
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