Ryan, I'm willing to talk about this concept. I have a marketing background and I've worked with a number of local green retailers. In collaboration with Autumn Newell at Tuff Soul, I've designed materials for the "shop local/shop green" campaign (Green Business Crawl) on Black Friday the past two years.
I think first talking to a core group of businesses is important, to gauge interest, and to compare this idea to others that may be percolating or under way. Another preliminary step would be to write up a budget to determine what each business needs to contribute and how many businesses are needed to break even. There's a lot of legwork in a project like this, not to mention upfront costs. It's not the kind of project that can be easily accomplished on a volunteer basis -- although volunteers could be solicited to help with distribution and sales. Going to firms that already provide this service to conventional businesses might save a lot of headaches. Maybe they'd be willing to create a green coupon book, or at least a section for green businesses. At least one local newspaper will print special sections supported by advertising. Talking to them about a "green coupon" special insert is also a possibility. I think for-profit/not-for-profit collaborations are needed to help green businesses get a competitive foothold. In the end, however, it has to be the businesses that back such a project. They need to see a benefit and be willing to invest. If you hear from others who would at least like to start a discussion, I'm game. My particular areas of interest include support for green fashion retailers, locally available green products for home and closet, and consumer education. Wendy Skinner Coordinator, SewGreen www.sew-green.org Green PR Services [EMAIL PROTECTED] 607-277-7611 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ryan Hottle" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Sustainable Tompkins County listserv" <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, May 09, 2008 3:45 PM Subject: [SustainableTompkins] Local Sustainable Coupon Book Idea Dear Sustainable Tompkins, Here is an idea for a "Local and Sustainable Coupon Book" which could benefit local businesses, non-profit organizations, and Sustainable Tompkins as a whole: Local economies are central to creating sustainable and largely self-reliant communities which are not only desirable because they increase the economic, ecological, and human prosperity of a place, but also necessary as we face the twin challenges of peak oil and climate change. They can also serve to create more just and equitable economic systems which do not place human healthy and hapiness or ecological destruction outside of our economic structure. We need to search for tools and methods of increasing local and sustainable economic activity within Tompkins county. One tool for doing this is the creation of a local currency, which has been done through the Ithaca Hour currency system. Another tool—the one which I am proposing here—is a "Local and Sustainable Coupon Book" for Tompkins County. Here's the general idea: 1) We ask local and sustainable companies to contribute coupon offers for the Coupon Book. The coupons would act both to drive business for the company as well as to save money for the purchaser of the goods or supplies. 2) We collect enough coupons from local companies to generate 100 to 200 dollars worth of coupons. 3) We sell the coupon books for, say, five dollars apiece: two of the dollars would go to printing and distribution costs as well as any other costs associated with the coupon book; the other three would go to terrific organizations such as the "Hope Non-Profit CSA" for low-income folks. 4) The coupon book could also include articles and information such as a description of the work being done by Sustainable Tompkins, a resource directory, and a few articles about the importance of a local economy/local food production etc. 5) Another possibility is to include some local Ithaca Hours in the coupon book in order to get local residents acquainted and excited by the power of a local currency. (By way of footnote, communities which had local currencies during the Great Depression tended to fair much better than those who did not.) I have already started a preliminary design of what such a coupon book would look like using Microsoft Publisher software. At this time, however, I am not able to commit to overseeing and directing the development of this project by myself (I have just started a new job and am working on fairly intense research regarding solutions to climate change). A team of folks would need to be assembled who would be willing and excited to work on such a project. Someone with publishing and printing experience would be invaluable. I foresee such a coupon book as being a powerful tool which accomplishes many things at once—it increases the notoriety and relevance of Sustainable Tompkins; it advances the goal of supporting and helping to create sustainable and local businesses; it increases public awareness around the issues of peak oil and climate change and potential community scale solutions to these problems; it benefits non-profit organizations; it encourages purchasing from local companies as well as the use of the Ithaca Hour; and it creates a healthy synergism between local companies in the area. I look forward to any and all feedback on this idea. Thanks so much, Ryan D. Hottle -- Ryan Darrell Hottle, Climate Change Solutions Thinker Global Climate Solutions www.GlobalClimateSolutions.org (coming soon!) Ohio Peak Oil Action (OPOA) Co-Founder, Director www.ohiopeakoilaction.org 803 Coddington Road, Ithaca, New York 14850 (740) 258 8450 _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
