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Curious about how our program works?

Participate in a brief demo and get your questions—about customization, multi-facility options and other logistics answered.

We’ll respond to what you’d like to know.

April 27, 2016 at 1:00-1:30pm CST
(2:00-2:30pm EST)

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Folks who play Cool Choices discover simple eco-driving habits that save money and reduce their carbon footprint. During a game of Cool Choices, card actions offer points to players who improve their daily driving habits. For example, players can earn points for their team by avoiding “jack rabbit” starts and stops, driving the speed limit, and removing extra weight from their vehicles. (Of course there are also points for choosing public transportation, biking or walking instead of driving.)

By making eco-driving habits a fun and social challenge, these changes become a simple and cool way to see increased fuel efficiency and to be more green.

Check out what our Cool Choices participants have to say about their new driving habits:

Drive the Speed Limit, Save $

“I drive around 500 miles/week and slowing down saves me close to $10/week in fuel.”

“I’ve slowed down while driving most places. As a result, I’ve seen about a 3% increase in fuel efficiency.”

“I tend to drive fast and Cool Choices has taught me about money savings to drive the speed limit and [I] walked away being less stressed and calmer when driving and taking in the beautiful scenery around me.”

“It is hard for me to give up driving all together, but I was glad to hear that it was possible to make my habits better.”

Combine Errand Trips, Follow the Over/Under 40MPH Rule

“My wife and I have made a pact to run into town only once per day.
Previous to the game we might drive into town three or four times a day… Now we make a list of things we need.”

“If we need something, we do a list and bundle the errands together.  Saves time/gas/money.”

“Learning the 40mph rule (under 40mph windows down, over 40mph use AC) was very helpful,
I never knew the threshold before but suspected there must be one.”

Choose Not to Idle, Maintain Recommended Tire Pressure 

“I will never idle my car if I have the option to turn it off.”

“My co-worker actually permanently changed her commuting habits (leaving earlier in the morning to avoid sitting in traffic and idling)
because of the game. Come on now, that’s cool!”

“[I’m] committed to checking tire pressure on a weekly basis.”

Join in and try some of these green driving tips today! 

Looking for new and innovative ways to green your workplace? The Cool Choices online sustainability game can help; our game and engagement platform collects great ideas from employees on greening the workplace and builds a buzz about sustainability at your organization.

For example, a 30-point card prompts, “Suggest a new way to save energy at work.”

This is a simple and effective way to get employee engagement—and input specific to your organization—around sustainable changes that can be implemented. In just a few minutes a day, Cool Choices makes sustainability and energy-saving measures top of mind for your employees and delivers concrete energy and cost-saving strategies. Our clients receive an End-of-Game Report (including a compilation of employee suggestions) as part of their Cool Choices implementation.

Curious about the kinds of suggestions Cool Choices participants make?

Our clients see three kinds of ideas, each providing a different engagement opportunity:

1. Hidden Opportunities for Savings

In many cases participants identify very specific savings opportunities that were not visible to sustainability leaders. In our work with a regional healthcare network, for example, a small rural clinic had developed an innovative recycling strategy; when a participant shared the idea via Cool Choices the organization’s leadership was able to replicate it in other locations. In many cases front line staff have the clearest view on where resources are being wasted; soliciting their ideas can accelerate efficiencies.

2. Support for New Organization-level Protocols

Participants often suggest practical organization-wide changes that will reduce overall resource use. In many games participants identify a number of strategies for reducing fleet costs—like new protocols for carpooling and vehicle selection. Often these ideas are not new; typically both sustainability and accounting staff had identified most of the savings opportunities previously. Leaders didn’t pursue the ideas, though, due to concerns about staff acceptance. By providing bottom-up momentum—ideas about how the organization can live its commitment to sustainability, coming from everyone across the organization versus just another cost saving idea from the folks in accounting—the Cool Choices program provided an opportunity to talk about and implement these ideas.

3. Audacious Goals

Some participants will suggest dramatic changes that are seem well beyond an organization’s current goals—like installing sufficient solar panels to power an entire factory. Within the game these suggestions provide a unique two-way opportunity for dialogue and education. Helping staff understand, for example, the number of panels required to power an industrial operation can increase staff appreciation for the value of energy efficiency. At the same time, leaders gain insights from the kinds of audacious goals participants suggest—knowing that staff support audacious goals can nudge leaders to think bigger as they update organization-wide sustainability goals.

If you’d like to engage your employees in innovative approaches to accelerate your organization’s sustainability efforts, please contact us.

Take a picture of a sustainable action, then share it!

This is a simple one, but it’s important. Did you bike to work? Do you compost? Did you switch to LED bulbs? Print double-sided? Turn off the lights when you leave a room? Snap a selfie and share it on social media. Your photo is social proof that you are doing your part and it can motivate others to act too. Social norms are powerful. Seeing images of climate success is inspiring and motivating.

Wouldn’t it be cool to see your Facebook feed or Twitter or Instagram stream filled with images of regular people stepping up to embrace sustainability and take on climate change? This is part of what happens inside a game of Cool Choices; people playing the game are inspired by one another’s sustainable actions shared in the social stream of the game. Simple actions ripple out into more and more cool choices.

Curious about what sustainable practices your actions could inspire? Take a selfie, tag us on one of the accounts below, and see how your selfie inspires actions in your social circle. This is the chance to take a selfie for a cause!

See some examples on our Instagram account. Let’s make sustainability visible!

Cool Choices on Facebook
Cool Choices on Twitter
Cool Choices on Instagram

Team “Seventhwave Wavemakers” of Seventhwave organized their own e-waste drive during their game of Cool Choices.

In a game of Cool Choices, new actions are released every day. Players compete as teams to see who can take the greatest number of sustainable actions such as biking to work, turning off the lights when leaving a room, choosing a meatless meal and recycling.

Over and over, we see teams and players get inspired during the game to take on a project that goes beyond the actions in the game.

For example, a Cool Choices team recently decided to organize their own e-waste drive. This was not something we suggested they do to earn points. The team had an idea while playing Cool Choices so they took on this larger project. Cool Choices, a game that takes minutes to play, brought this team together, got them talking and inspired a whole new initiative.

A culture that embraces sustainability is contagious. It feels good to see people around you who want to do their part, big or small. If we can make sustainability visible, we’ll inspire a ripple effect where your actions inspire mine and mine inspire someone else’s. The growing momentum creates and reinforces a sense of efficacy. The more of us the better; like the team of people pictured, let’s take sustainability beyond the game, into our homes, workplaces, consumer choices and communities.

Together, we CAN embrace (and enjoy) being more sustainable. Together, with some innovation and inspiration, we can address climate change.

Curious about how Cool Choices can help your organization save money and get sustainable? Contact us and we’ll get back to you with more information.

Can a game prompt change? Can people have fun while addressing serious issues like climate change?

Learn the benefits of a game-based approach in this free 30-minute webinar.

You’ll come away from the webinar with new tips you can begin using immediately in your own sustainability efforts!

March 18th | 12pm-12:30pm CST
(1pm-1:30pm EST)

Register Now

Outpost Natural Foods, a natural foods grocery co-op with six locations in Wisconsin, will kick off their game of Cool Choices in February 2016. Employees at Outpost will form teams and compete daily for 6 weeks in the Cool Choices online sustainability game. The game and engagement platform lets participants earn points and win prizes for reporting actions that reduce resource consumption and help the environment.

Outpost demonstrates a deep commitment to environment responsibility and this commitment shows up in both large and small endeavors. For example, Outpost uses ecofriendly packaging, composts 100% of the scrap food from all locations, including their production kitchen, and has solar panels, rainwater catchment, onsite food production and rain gardens at their Mequon, WI location. Additionally, Outpost is currently 25^th on the EPA’s Top 30 Retail list for their green power use within the Green Power Partnership program.

The Cool Choices team would like to welcome Outpost Natural Foods employees! We can’t wait to see the impact you’ll make during your game of Cool Choices.

“Outpost Natural Foods has had many successes in terms of environmental and social responsibility. The Cool Choices game-based approach offers us a new and fun way to engage our employees around sustainability. The game also tracks and measure financial savings, carbon reduction and engagement results, so we’re looking forward to sharing the impacts our employee teams will create,” said Jessy Servi Ortiz, Sustainability Manager, Outpost Natural Foods.

Curious about how Cool Choices can help your organization save money and get sustainable? Contact us and we’ll get back to you with more information.

Last Friday Cool Choices joined the rest of the Green Madison team and hundreds of guests at Madison’s Central Library. During this after-hours Night Light event we celebrated and connected with players who took part in the fall 2015 city-wide Cool Choices online sustainability game. The energy, water and financial savings these participants achieved was phenomenal and we’re looking forward to an even larger municipal game of Cool Choices in Madison this spring.

Check out the 40+ Madison businesses and organizations that took part in the fall 2015 Cool Choices online sustainability game.

Thanks to everyone who came out in support of Cool Choices and making Madison more sustainable! We hope you enjoyed browsing the art exhibits, experimenting with “infrared drawing,” and celebrating your participation in the game-based approach to building sustainable habits and reducing energy use city-wide.

Photo highlights from the celebration below!

In Madison, Wisconsin, Green Madison has launched a city-wide round of Cool Choices as part of the city’s effort to win the Georgetown University Energy Prize. We’re pleased to introduce you to the members of one of the top teams from this game, the MPD Civilians.

Read on to learn the secrets of their sustainability success & why they play Cool Choices.

The “MPD Civilians”

Cool Choices Green Madison Overall Game Update:

Curious about how Cool Choices can help your organization save money and get sustainable? Contact us and we’ll get back to you with more information.

Did you know entire communities are playing Cool Choices to mobilize around sustainability initiatives?

Recently, Green Madi­son launched a city-wide game of Cool Choices in Madison, Wisconsin. Residents and employ­ees from more than 40 Madi­son busi­nesses and orga­ni­za­tions such as UW Health, Amer­i­can Fam­ily Insur­ance, MG&E, TDS Tele­com, and the Greater Madi­son Cham­ber of Com­merce are tak­ing part. The Cool Choices game cal­cu­lates car­bon and energy sav­ings as play­ers log their sus­tain­able actions on a daily basis.

Everyone’s efforts in the city-wide Cool Choices game count toward Madison’s entry in the George­town Uni­ver­sity Energy competition.

“Madi­son has a secret weapon in the nation-wide Energy Prize: A game-based-impact approach that inspires and unites every Madis­on­ian around sus­tain­abil­ity! Cool Choices has demon­strated results, and will let res­i­dents and employ­ees from busi­nesses large and small com­mu­ni­cate with each other on how to improve our city,” said Dan White, CEO at Fil­a­ment Games.

The “social stream” within the game plat­form pro­motes aware­ness of addi­tional Green Madi­son ini­tia­tives designed to help Madi­son res­i­dents save money.

“Employ­ees at Reynolds Trans­fer & Stor­age are tak­ing part in the city-wide game of Cool Choices because we see this as an easy and fun way to be more green and to help Madi­son reduce our energy use as we com­pete for the George­town Uni­ver­sity Energy Prize” said Ben­jamin Reynolds, Direc­tor of Oper­a­tions at Reynolds Trans­fer & Stor­age. “We hope even more busi­nesses and Madi­son residents will join in and take part.”