Zerofootprint’s carbon calculator allows Earth Hour participants to measure carbon and pledge ongoing commitment to reducing emissions
28 March 2008: Earth Hour has teamed up with Zerofootprint to provide a carbon calculator that enables Earth Hour participants to measure their carbon footprint and make ongoing changes to their individual lifestyles in a bid to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The calculator will also allow the Earth Hour campaign organisers to track the performance of its online community beyond Saturday March 29, when citizens in more than 100 cities switch off power for one hour around the globe.
Earth Hour participants can log on to the Zerofootprint Calculator through Facebook to measure their personal carbon footprint and compare themselves with their friends or with those living in other countries (http://apps.facebook.com/zfcalculator). Users can also pledge to reduce their footprint by committing to different low carbon actions and invite friends to measure their footprint and join Earth Hour. Daily tips will help users further attain their Earth Hour goals.
Participants can access an alternative version of Zerofootprint Calculator for Earth Hour at earthhour.zerofootprint.net.
Earth Hour’s Executive Director, Andy Ridley expressed his enthusiasm for this latest initiative. “The Zerofootprint calculator helps us ratchet up the whole Earth Hour initiative. It allows communities to set real achievable targets to reach our five per cent reduction goal and gives people a means of making and measuring changes.”
Ron Dembo, founder and CEO of Zerofootprint said, “Carbon in the atmosphere is at the core of the climate change problem. We empower individuals by giving them a measurement tool —and even more importantly a course of action that they can take to reduce their carbon footprint.”
Zerofootprint’s goal is to create a global social networking community focused on combating climate change. “We want to help people and organisations address climate change in a profitable yet sustainable way through the provision of software tools for the ongoing measurement and tracking of individuals and organisations’ footprints,” said Dembo.
For more information on Earth Hour, to pledge your support or find out how you can get Earth Hour happening in your city, go to www.earthhour.org.
Zerofootprint Contacts Canada: Ron Dembo, Founder and CEO Zerofootprint (Canada) is available for media inquiries T: 416 365 7557 (office hours) or Deborah Kaplan, Executive Director, Zerofootprint (Canada) T: +416 365 7557 (or info@zerofootprint.net)
Australia: David Solsky, Managing Director, Zerofootprint Australia is available for local media enquiries. Mobile:+61 0411 373 333
For more information contact: Kath Eggleston, WWF-Australia Press Office T: +61 2 8202 1294 / 0408 408 562 E: keggleston@wwf.org.au
About Earth Hour On March 31 2007, for one hour, Sydney made a powerful statement about the greatest contributor to global warming – coal-fired electricity – by turning off its lights. Over 2.2 million Sydney residents and over 2,100 businesses turned off their lights, leading to a 10.2% energy reduction across the city. What began as one city taking a stand against global warming caught the attention of the world. In 2008, 24 global cities will participate in Earth Hour at 8pm on March 29. Earth Hour is the highlight of a major campaign to encourage businesses, communities and individuals to take the simple steps needed to cut their emissions on an ongoing basis. It is about simple changes that will collectively make a difference – from businesses turning off their lights when their offices are empty, to households turning off appliances rather than leaving them on standby.
About WWF WWF-Australia is part of the WWF International Network, the world’s largest and most experienced independent conservation organisation. It has close to five million supporters and a global network active in more than 100 countries. WWF’s mission is to stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature. This is achieved by working on the ground with local communities, and in partnership with government and industry, using the best possible science to advocate change and effective conservation policy.
Leo Burnett Sydney Award winning agency, Leo Burnett is WWF’s partner in the Earth Hour initiative. The agency, in collaboration with WWF, has created the Earth Hour identity and logo and a dedicated holistic communications campaign, designed to harness the power of TV, radio, print and interactive.
About Zerofootprint Recently nominated for a “Crunchie Award” as most likely to change the world and named “Toronto’s Best Green Organization” by blogTO, Zerofootprint’s goal is to mobilize and empower large groups of individuals and organizations worldwide to reduce their collective carbon and ecological footprint. We do this by harnessing the power of social networking, the Internet and software. Zerofootprint targets large organizations such as collections of cities, multinational corporations, universities, schools and multinational communities, which may span many countries. We enable them with infrastructure that can measure, aggregate, track and manage their individual and combined footprint. With clients ranging from Air Canada to City of Toronto, City of Boulder (Colorado), City of Seattle and University of Guelph (Ontario), Zerofootprint is on a mission to empower you to create a sustainable world.
Visit www.zerofootprint.net for more information or contact Deborah Kaplan at 416.365.7557, or write to info@zerofootprint.net.