Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO) is in NYC’s Time Square today to kick of is greenest city in America search.
Co-founder David Filo, joined by actor Matt Dillon and Global Green USA CEO Matt Petersen, are introducing “Be a Better Planet,” to empower Americans to take action against climate change. The winning city, which will be announced on June 8th, will be rewarded a fleet of hybrid taxi cabs or the equivalent cash donation, to be dedicated toward city greening projects. To kick off the program, Yahoo! will also donate a fleet of hybrid taxis to New York City, recently determined to produce 1% of all U.S. greenhouse gases.
“Americans everywhere are taking notice of the increasingly dire predictions around global climate change,” said Yahoo!’s David Filo. “We want to make it easy for consumers to do something, as well as help them build enduring habits that can truly make a difference. We believe many small individual actions can add up to significant change.”
Yahoo is also launching Yahoo! Green (http://green.yahoo.com), a new one-stop resource website for the environmentally-concerned. Its purpose is to inform and empower consumers with the latest news, tips, and ways to take action. The site features a personalized plan to protect the planet — a pledge that allows consumers to choose from a menu of actions to reduce their personal carbon emissions and see the collective impact of everyone who participates.
In the near future, it will include the latest environmental headlines from Yahoo! News; 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; relevant content from Yahoo! Answers, Yahoo! Groups, the Yahoo! Autos Green Center; with more content and features to come.
Participants will earn points for each green action, contributing to their hometown’s overall ranking, which will be visible nearly in real-time on an interactive national map. They will also receive a free energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL), while supplies last.
Global Green USA – which works with cities to create policies, programs, and incentives to create more cost-effective, energy efficient, healthier buildings – will partner with the winning city to green a school, city building, or a citywide green building program should the winning city choose Yahoo!’s cash donation in lieu of hybrid taxis.
Yahoo!’s sustainability activities include the use renewable energy, passive cooling at facilities and data centers, and a commute alternatives program which offers incentives such as Wi-Fi enabled biodiesel shuttles and generous public transit subsidies. Yahoo! recently replaced incandescent light bulbs with CFLs on its billboards in New York City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, and announced that it will become carbon neutral in 2007.
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