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Team-based Carbonrally Competition Designed to Engage, Inspire and Advance University’s Commitment to a Sustainable Future
(Boston) January 21, 2010 – Boston University, a world leader in teaching, research and scholarship, announced today the launch of the nation’s first college-specific league competition designed to reduce energy consumption across BU's 18 colleges. The University is partnering with Carbonrally, a unique online community that engages and educates people in environmental challenges, team competition, and collective impact to host this initiative.
The competition, called “Join the Challenge,” will include students, alumni, faculty and staff, representing Boston University’s 18 schools and colleges. The competition is comprised of simple monthly challenges, ranging from "Power Showers,” which reduce time under the water, to “Decup Your Decaf,” reducing consumption of paper cups. Individuals and teams will accrue CO2 savings for completing challenges, and Carbonrally will display a team leaderboard and the community-wide CO2 savings generated by the competition. All results will be posted on BU's League Page which is accessible through the University’s new sustainability@BU website (www.bu.edu/sustainability).
“Our goal is to educate the BU community on what some of the issues are, and inspire both individuals and groups to make changes in the daily activities,” says Susan Chaityn Lebovits, Communications Specialist for sustainability@BU.
The University's monthly challenges will be combined with promotions, events, and prizes to recognize top teams and individuals. Each month will offer a way to learn more about a specific sustainable action, and an opportunity to celebrate the impact of working together. Healthy competition across the schools will add fun and socializing to the campaign. February’s action, to take “power showers,” shows that reducing shower time to five minutes can save 25 gallons of water.
"Large communities such as Boston University can have a huge impact through collective action,” says Carbonrally founder Jason Karas. “On average, a Carbonrally participant eliminates about 400 lbs of CO2 per year by taking challenges. Combine that with BU's 32,000 students, 9,500 faculty and staff, and 280,000 alumni, and the potential impact gets very exciting. Boston University brought this vision to Carbonrally, and we are thrilled about the creation of a first-ever Carbonrally League dedicated to a single university. We hope BU's leadership, and the impact of the BU community, inspires others to join-up, compete, and have fun too.”
In addition to posting the monthly challenge results, sustainability@BU will serve as the primary resource for housing information on Boston University’s ongoing sustainability efforts, including classes and research that focus on environmental issues, and even how to request a recycling bin. The website will also highlight personal and group efforts, providing those with a platform to inspire, engage and educate the Boston University community.
About Boston University
Founded in 1839, Boston University is an internationally recognized institution of higher education and research. With more than 30,000 students, it is the fourth largest independent university in the United States. BU consists of 17 colleges and schools along with a number of multi-disciplinary centers and institutes which are central to the school's research and teaching mission.
About Carbonrally
Based in Cambridge, MA, Carbonrally (www.carbonrally.com) is a web platform offering individuals and groups a fun, simple and social way to conserve energy and have an impact on climate change. Carbonrally publishes periodic science-based “challenges” which involve personal changes in behavior. The site enumerates the personal CO2 impacts associated with the challenges, and also reports combined scores for teams and the entire community. Through team play, Carbonrally provides a quick and easy program to engage people in collective energy and climate action around the world.
Carbonrally
David Templeton
DBT Communications
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