Campaign Overview
Every person plays an important role in the creation of a more environmentally sustainable community. Between 35% to 85% of a community’s natural resources are used at the household level with up to 75% of these resources wasted through inefficiency and lack of awareness. Households are also a major source of a community’s environmental pollution through auto emissions and toxic chemicals entering the ground water.
Campaign Goal
The goal of The “Pay It Forward” Sustainable Lifestyle Campaign is to help citizens develop lifestyle practices that conserve natural resources and protect the environment. Citizens are generally willing to cooperate, but have a hard time changing their behaviors and habits. Traditional methods used by municipalities – information and financial incentives – while achieving awareness and some behavior change, are not adequate for helping people change lifelong habits. And they are not tapping the enormous potential for resource savings that citizens are willing and able to achieve. Municipalities need new tools to enable voluntary citizen behavior change.
“Pay It Forward” Sustainable Lifestyle Campaign
LiveWisely 2020’s “Pay It Forward” Sustainable Lifestyle Campaign empowers individuals to adopt environmentally sustainable lifestyle practices. The Campaign is attractive because of its ability to create neighborhood social cohesiveness and an engaged citizenry.
Community participation is achieved by identifying motivated individuals in schools and neighborhoods, and helping them reach out to other schools and neighbors to start Eco-Groups. To promote steady growth in participation, LiveWisely 2020 has designed a dynamic recruitment process. Participants are taught how to invite fellow students, friends, family members and neighbors to informational events hosted at one their schools or homes. At these gatherings, people will learn about the “Pay It Forward” Sustainable Lifestyle Campaign and decide if they want to join a team. Using this process, Eco-Groups consistently start new neighborhood teams.
The Campaigns are customized to meet the specific needs of each school or community and can either be delivered by motivated volunteer students or community members who have received comprehensive training and coaching by the LiveWisely 2020 Foundation.
How the Campaign Works
The “Pay It Forward” Sustainable Lifestyle Campaign is simple and easy.
- Neighborhood households (Eco-Groups with 5-6 members) will meet eight times over a four-month period, with the help of a step-by-step workbook and trained volunteer coach. Choosing from a series of practical actions, each group supports one another to reduce waste, use less water and energy, buy eco-friendly products, reduce air and water pollution, minimize carbon footprint and encourage other neighbors to get involved. More than increasing awareness, the “Pay It Forward” Campaign enables people to exponentially change the way they live.
- Student groups (Eco-Groups with 5-6 students) will meet eight times over a four-month period, with the help of a step-by-step workbook and trained volunteer coach. Choosing from a series of practical actions, each group supports one another to reduce waste, use less water and energy, buy eco-friendly products, reduce air and water pollution, minimize carbon footprint and encourage other neighbors to get involved. More than increasing awareness, the “Pay It Forward” Campaign enables people to exponentially change the way they live.
- Depending upon the level of involvement, participants can earn either individual or group eco-points to show their involvement. All while improving the quality of life right where they live!
- A less measurable feature of the campaign is the community and social capital building dimension. People meet their neighbors and begin acting as a community, often for the first time. Students meet new friends and begin to foster a lifelong advocacy for sustainable living.
Starting Your Campaign
To begin your campaign simply visit the Group Starter Toolkit for more information.
