Canadian Geographic Teaches Some Carbon Footprint Fitness

I can’t predict who will actually read this post, but I can say with a fair amount of certainty that most of you should probably go on a diet.

Now hold on – before you get offended – I’m not talking calorie consumption. I’m talking energy. The gas in your car, the oil in your furnace, the number of appliances you have, the amount of electricity you use – for most of us, energy is our largest expense. With the increasingly ominous threats of climate change looming over all of us, the importance of cutting back on our carbon emissions is becoming harder and harder to ignore.

In an effort to help, our clients at Canadian Geographic have decided to put six Canadian households on an Energy Diet, and pit them against each other. Each household will spend three full months taking all kinds of steps to slim down their consumption. While they learn effective ways to cut down their energy use they will keep the rest of the nation updated on their progress by blogging about their experience – complete with photos and videos to increase the excitement. Also to keep things interesting, each household will be participating in a few ‘mini-challenges’ organized by Canadian Geographic.

After entries were submitted from coast to coast, the final six competing households were chosen, and off to the races on September 1st, 2011. BSL was responsible for the design and development of print ads for Canadian Geographic and Geographica, to promote the various stages of the Challenge, as well as the official Energy Diet Challenge Guide and foldout poster featuring over 100 tips and tricks for you to start your own energy diet. Canadian Geographic and their partners at Shell have also developed a website with helpful online resources anyone can use, which includes a carbon footprint calculator, and personal energy dashboard.

While technically we all win when anyone makes an effort to help the environment, the Energy Diet Challenge will indeed have a champion. The household that shows the most enthusiasm and commitment to finding creative and efficient ways to reduce their consumption, in combination with receiving votes from viewers across the country, will be crowned the winner.

Follow the Energy Diet Challenge and start trimming some of your energy fat right now!