What gives you hope? This was the question posed to Nike employees at a May 5th climate change workshop called the Climate Café. Hosted at Nike’s World Headquarters in Oregon, a "Low Carbon Diet" program was introduced to a crowd of more than 130 employees to give them the tools and inspiration to reduce their carbon footprint.
“It’s hard to debate how important climate change has become and the dramatic effects it holds for us today and our children. Nike has great stories in this area- our efforts in Laakdal and the facilities group,” said Charlie Denson, President of Nike Brand, when he opened up the four hour discussion. “So with examples like these, how do we all enable a corporate community and employees around the world to make an impact?”
Employees engaged in group discussions to talk about ways to solve sustainability roadblocks in their homes, communities and at work. Along with brainstorming, the Climate Café provided direct connection points for people to implement their carbon reduction ideas by linking employees together.
Following the event, participants were encouraged to sign up for teams that would agree to follow the Low Carbon Diet including a 30-day program to cut out 5,000 pounds of CO2 emissions (The typical American household generates 55,000 pounds of carbon dioxide annually according to the Low Carbon Diet book). The program provides steps and tools for the teams to best-implement a plan for reducing their own carbon footprint, the end goal being to maintain lower carbon emissions for the long run and to continue by spreading these practices into the workplace and the larger community.
In 30 days we’ll check back in with the Climate Café teams to see just how much "weight" they’ve lost with their "Cool Down" projects.
Some great ideas originated from the Climate Café. If you’d like to be a part of the change or if you have your own ideas, join the discussion on the Innovate forum under Climate by visiting www.innovateforum.net.