Congratulations to our friends at Carrotmob for launching their first ever global Carrotmob campaign! Read below to find out how they are using a few carrots to help deliver coffee using wind power.

Carrotmob is a new way for people to influence businesses to make them
more sustainable. Instead of organizing boycotts, we offer to spend
money as a group to support a business if the business agrees to make
an improvement that we care about. Everyone wins – businesses get
money and we achieve unprecedented social impact. And it works.

We launched our first ever global climate campaign with Thanksgiving
Coffee Company, an artisan coffee roaster in Northern California. The
family-run company buys coffee beans from small farms and cooperatives
around the world, and already embrace cutting-edge sustainability
practices. But we challenged them to do even more, and they have
stepped up to the challenge.

Thanksgiving has agreed to embark on a journey to become the first
coffee company in modern times to transport their coffee beans by
wind-powered shipping instead of using container ships fueled by oil.
However, they will only be able to take this action if we can prove
that there is demand for sustainably transported coffee by buying
$150,000 worth of coffee through the Carrotmob website.

I’m asking you to help make this vision a reality. All you have to do
is spread the word and tell people to buy this “extraordinary,
luxurious coffee.” Nope, I didn’t make that up – it’s straight from
Coffee Review, though I can personally vouch that the coffee is
delicious.

Now imagine how this model could spread all green products. We can
reward companies for shifting to a sustainable model. We can reward
retailers for agreeing to sell and showcase more green products. A
core challenge of the green consumer movement has always been to
expand the market. Today, many people buy green products, but
businesses who haven’t yet made the leap have a hard time being sure
that the demand will be there for their own products. We want to make
Carrotmob a place where consumers can vote with their money and make
it blindingly clear to businesses just how strong the demand for green
products is.

I believe Carrotmob can serve as a secret weapon for the green
consumer movement. But that won’t happen unless we get enough people
to buy this coffee right now in order to send a message. Help us
spread the word! Even if we don’t hit the goal in time, the money that
would have gone towards pursuing wind-powered shipping will go to
supplying clean cookstoves to the communities around the world that
grow Thanksgiving Coffee – a win in the fight against climate change
and for public health. One clean cookstove can be supplied for every 5
bags of coffee purchased.

I appreciate the support, and we’d love to hear any of your thoughts
on our Facebook page.

Brent Schulkin
Founder of Carrotmob
carrotmob.org