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Question: How do we incent consumers to take meaningful, positive action on the issue of climate change? HAVE YOUR SAY

Alisa Gravitz

Alisa Gravitz

Green America

The most effective way for consumers to take meaningful, positive action on climate change is to vote with their dollars. As the green movement grows and the economy tightens, consumers are becoming more discerning about where they spend their hard-earned money. Our work shows that consumers want to support companies whose values and actions align with their own, so companies demonstrating they are truly taking a leadership role around the environment and social justice will benefit from the support of conscientious consumers...

Andrea Asch

Andrea Asch

Ben & Jerry’s

At Ben & Jerry’s, we realize the power of a single effort to make a simple change can be a catalyst for a larger movement. As businesses we will continue to show our commitment through actions such as reducing our own green house gasses and investing in renewable sources of energy. Only then can we ask consumers to show their commitment. Let’s tell our consumers’ stories. What are they doing that we can share and learn from? We need to demonstrate that changes in our climate are being felt now and that they will impact all of us in our own community.

Wood Turner

Wood Turner

Climate Counts

Companies love to talk about how they've achieved cost savings through energy-efficiency programs (rightfully so!), but consumers may be getting an unfortunate mixed message. While quick to acknowledge cost savings to show their energy management efforts are working, companies are much slower to extend any kind of savings to consumers who want to reward them for using less energy (and emitting less CO2). Instead, the conventional corporate wisdom is to ask consumers to pay more for products and services with green attributes rather than explicitly share the return on investment in climate action...



If you’re an active participant in Timberland’s online dialogue, you may notice our new site design upon visiting this page. We have upgraded our dialogue so it is structured as a Forum - which you can see when making a comment or by going to www.earthkeeper.com/forum. Dialogue participants can will be asked to log in when making comments. You'll also be able to discuss multiple topics within each pillar area at one time. We believe these changes will improve everyone’s experience and communication. As always, the dialogue is open to all users. We value your comments and participation.

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10 Most Recent Comments in this Discussion Topic

Mike Lawrence - Cone | Friday, April 09, 4:12 PM

Only a small percentage of consumers are ideological enough to “vote with their dollars” in a positive way (more will do so in a negative way, i.e. avoiding controversial/targeted companies). So companies need to be realistic in how much “bump” they can expect from marketing environmental initiatives. Consumers don’t trust companies enough to be “led” by them on climate change, and the topic is still too remote to motivate most people. Where a company CAN get traction is in helping take away their customers’ “environmental guilt” from using their product/service. Making a product easy to recycle or reuse makes a consumer feel they “made a difference.” If a consumer buys something and a company does something environmentally good as a result of the purchase, that works too as long as the company proves it (again, it’s a trust thing). If a company wants to educate/motivate consumers to act on climate change, it better be engaging and fun. Leave the preachy stuff to people/organizations with the cred to make people listen. Even then, it’s a challenge unless it connects to individual consumers’ lives TODAY.

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Justine Pattantyus - Ceres | Friday, April 09, 4:40 PM

Would it be effective to incentivize consumers to take action and reward them in return? Many people do not pay attention unless they quickly realize the "what's in it for me" piece of the equation. Since positively affecting action on climate change is not tangible, make it tangible in another way. Offer 5% off a customer's future purchase for sending an e-mail, writing a letter or signing a petition for positive action. Have the name of people who take action entered into a contest for a gift card or other free merchandise. First capture their attention, then deliver the message.

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Beth Holzman - CSR Strategy & Reporting Manager @ Timberland | Wednesday, July 21, 2:32 PM

The podcast from our recent CSR Stakeholder Call -- "The Road from Copenhagen: Engaging Mainstream Consumers" -- is now available at http://www.earthkeeper.c...older-Engagement-Calls. Do you ideas for engaging consumers? Let us know what you think by posting your comments here.

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