Who’s the greenest of them all?

Posted May 14th, 2007 at 3:40 am by David Filo, Chief Yahoo

 5 Comments / Filed in: Cool Stuff, Trends & News, Yahoo! For Good

Shrinking ice caps. Vanishing species. Extreme weather patterns. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the dire evidence supporting global climate change. It leaves you wondering if an individual can have any impact at all on slowing this train.

We think so.

Later this morning, with actor Matt Dillon and Global Green USA CEO Matt Petersen in New York City’s Times Square, we will launch a national call-to-action that invites people across the country to get involved, become aware and take action. We’re calling it “Be a Better Planet,” and we’re issuing a challenge to find the greenest city in America. Not in the sense of which is most energy efficient or least polluting, but which city is filled with the most eco-minded residents. We’ll reward that city with a fleet of hybrid taxis (or cash equivalent for city greening projects with Global Green USA). And we’ll reward you with a free CFL bulb (while supplies last).

To participate, all you need to do is go here and do one or more of the following:

1. Answer a question on Yahoo! Answers (and take your shot at answering Matt Dillon’s question while you’re at it about the most effective yet simple ways people can save energy);
2. Go to Yahoo! oneSearch on your mobile phone to type in green keywords like “organic food” and “public transport” plus your zip code to find relevant local resources; and
3. Pledge to take up to about 30 different planet-protecting actions in order to reduce your personal carbon emissions and track them on an interactive U.S. map to see the collective impact of everyone else who takes part.

That last point leads me to this bit of news. Coinciding with this event, we’re giving you a sneak preview of a brand new site called Yahoo! Green that we hope will become your go-to resource for all topics green. Its anchor tenant will be the green pledge. In a matter of a week or so, the site will also be full of green news headlines; featured content from Global Green USA, Environmental Defense, NRDC and Lime; blog feeds from environmental authority Amory Lovins, Environmental Defense’s chief scientist Bill Chameides and EcoGeek; green shopping tips; the 18Seconds.org site; and relevant content from Yahoo! Answers, Yahoo! Groups, and the Yahoo! Autos Green Center. And it’ll evolve from there with even more content and features, all in the name of informing and empowering you to be as green as you can be. The site was designed and built by our Yahoo! For Good Scrum team, an internal sabbatical program for employees who want to use their talents to do some good for the world.

I think I speak for Yahoos around the world when I say we’re very concerned about the future of our planet. And we think it’s time to stop talking about global warming and start doing something about it. Small individual actions can add up to significant change. Tell your friends, coworkers, parents, mailman… imagine what difference it would make if 300 million Americans (and 6.2 billion non-Americans, for that matter) started thinking differently about everything they do.

Think your city is the greenest of them all? Go prove it. We’re rooting for you.

David Filo
Chief Yahoo

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5 Comments Add your own

=bg= | May 14th, 2007 at 8:36 pm

David, great idea. Are you going to deploy those vehicles here in SF?

G. Chai | May 15th, 2007 at 1:57 pm

Mr. Filo, you rock! Best wishes to Yahoos around the world in their efforts to alleviate global warming.

ADALBERTO DELGADO | May 22nd, 2007 at 11:19 am

I WANT TO THANK YAHOO FOR THE HIBRID CARS THAT THEY DONATED TO NEW YORK I WISH MORE COMPANIES DID THE SAME THING AS YOU

Carla | October 1st, 2007 at 7:33 pm

David,
Good job with your environmental efforts to do your part..Hopefully, you will encourage others to do all they can to protect the environment. Go Green!!!

Carla

visa | July 20th, 2008 at 10:09 pm

Nice to see this good and pure environment always helps us
to feel god..