Carrotmob returns to San Francisco

Why Carrotmob?

When I first heard about Carrotmob, I knew I had to get involved. I was living in Chapel Hill, NC at the time, so I became a fan on Facebook, hoping I’d wind up in San Francisco by the time they did another one. I didn’t realize at the time that it was something I could start in my town!

Then when I heard Steve Newcomb (CEO of Virgance, which owns Carrotmob) speak at Sustainable Brands ’09, I was even more determined to get involved. I started following Carrotmob on Twitter, so when Brent tweeted that he was looking for a summer intern, I jumped on it.

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I got the internship, and became more deeply involved with Carrotmob than I’d ever imagined! I’d thought I would just show up at an event and buy a bunch of stuff, my favorite way to give back to the community. Instead, I got to spend the summer helping develop Carrotmob’s strategies for world domination, which was a blast!

What the heck is Carrotmob, anyway?

Well, in a nutshell, it’s a form of consumer activism that uses the carrot, not the stick, to incentivize businesses to improve their environmental/social impact. A local organizer asks a few businesses to compete, and the one that makes the biggest promise regarding sustainability improvements, wins the mob. Generally, the winner is the business that offers to set aside the largest percentage of revenue from the event to go toward things like improving their energy efficiency. I like it because it means the more I buy, the more I’m helping! Of course Carrotmob encourages people to buy only what they need, and lately I’ve been doing that more than ever before.

So what was it like at Epicenter Café?

It felt great to be a part of something so inspired, and be involved in organizing an actual event, after having helped so many organizers across the world launch their own local Carrotmobs! I arrived early, and regular customers were curious about all the commotion. Many chose to stay and see what happened, as Carrotmobbers poured in to show their support for Epicenter Café.

There was a wonderful camaraderie at the café, as tons of people who are passionate about sustainability came out to show their support and mingle. I had a great chat with the guys from Guayaki Yerba Mate, and many others.

This contest was a little different, as we’d posted videos of the three cafés and asked the entire world to vote on which one should win, based on what they were currently doing and promised to do. The details are all here. If you want to Carrotmob some businesses in your town into changin’ their pollutin’ ways, shoot Brent an email- info at carrotmob dot org.

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