Success Stories for New Book: McKenzie-Mohr, Lee, Schultz, Kotler

Nancy -

We have had much sucess in Minnesota with a program called Blue Thumb - Planting for Clean Water (www.BlueThumb.org), which helps residents to plant native gardens, raingardens and shoreline plantings to reduce stormwater runoff and achieve other environmental benefits. The program has been going for about 3 years now and is a collaborative effort of 50-60 local government agencies, cities, nonprofits and private landscping companies. Collectively, we have completed an array of activites, including conducting focus group sessions, developing attractive and convincing materials and website, and integrating outreach with financial and technical assistance programs. As a result, there have been hundreds of new projects installed on private property in the past 3 years.

Give me a call or email and I can get you more information. [email protected] 651-275-1136 x.35

Angie  Hong
Water Resource Educator
Washington Conservation District
United States

Dear Nancy
A success story for 2008 was the launch of a No Junk Mail campaign through the voluntary climate change group BCCAG Bayside Climate Change Action Group.
Analysis and research showed this area to be very high in junk mail and the research showed that if all homes in Bayside rejected junk mail for 1 year 2500 trees would be saved plus the energy savings and resources of printing.
Free stickers were provided in recycled boxes with an explanation of the impact to Bayside of rejecting junk mail with the option to donate money for the cost of the sticker.Copies of the junk mail was made available to the public through the library and key cafes.
The stickers were then distributed throughlocal retailers and community clubs and promoted through the scouting movement.
In one year over 30% of homes adopted the sticker and rejected junk mail plus enough money was raised from voluntary contributions to print more stickers.

lucy allinson
Australia

When you get to the sections on changing behavior around food, Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program has great examples of changes in consumer and business behavior.

Ken Peterson

Hi Nancy,

I came across some pet waste reduction case studies when doing some research for Doug a couple of years ago. Here are two links to programs that seemed quite effective at the time:

City of Port Phillip, Australia:
http://www.litter.vic.gov.au/resources/documents/Port_Phillip_campaign.pdf

Pooches for the Planet, Tampa Bay Estuary Program:
http://www.epa.gov/owow/info/NewsNotes/pdf/83issue.pdf

I have contact information for the person who ran the second program, Nanette Holland O'Hara, if you need it. Feel free to email me off-line.

Good luck!

Amanda Kilburn
Canada

Hi,

Re success stories on sustainable transport for the new book, one is Victoria Walks run by VicHealth that supports local communities to create their own WAG (Walking Action Group). Their aim is to make their area more walkable by identifying issues that discourage walking and to lobby for change as a powerful and cohesive group. Go to www.victoriawalks.org.au

Another is run by Deakin University to encourage alternatives to vehicle use including car pooling, cycling and public transport. Go to www.deakin.edu.au/travelsmart/docs/summary-travelplan-2008-2010.pdf.

Cheers,

Dianne

Dianne Kelly
Deakin University
Australia