Audubon & Toyota's TogetherGreen Initiative Launches Facebook App to Encourage Conservation

NEW YORK, March 27, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- TogetherGreen, a conservation alliance between the National Audubon Society and Toyota, launched today the Spring Greening Challenge, a Facebook application that offers weekly conservation challenges, data on the impacts of green choices anyone can make around the home, and an opportunity for participants to win prizes.

The Spring Greening Challenge encourages participants to save water, protect habitats, engage people, reduce energy and win prizes! A play on Spring Cleaning, visitors to the application page on Facebook are invited to take that week's challenge, which is the completion of a particular conservation action around the home, like changing buying habits (e.g. purchasing recycled products). Once the challenge is completed, participants are encouraged to click the "I Did It" button to be entered in weekly and grand prize drawings. The Spring Greening Challenge application will be available through April 23rd offering four different weekly challenges.

This online engagement campaign, which is a component of the larger TogetherGreen program, was designed with a key goal of reaching a broad audience and making participation in meaningful conservation actions accessible to everyone.  To date, TogetherGreen has saved 5.8 million dollars through volunteer support, improved 10,540 acres of wildlife habitat, and engaged 218,311 participants through its grants, fellowships, and volunteer days programs. This online engagement campaign will help broaden the reach of TogetherGreen by offering anyone the opportunity to take important conservation actions around their home.

The online engagement campaign was also designed to educate users. In addition to simply viewing a task, completing it and entering to win prizes, participants will learn about the impact of these actions with surprising conclusions and playful comparisons. For instance, if the application encourages the use of natural cleaning products over conventional chemical-based ones, the user can see how many toxins will be kept out of the environment as a direct result of this choice. The application also features an impact estimator that demonstrates the incremental impact the action could have if the participant encourages all of his or her Facebook friends to also complete this challenge.

The decision to house the application within the TogetherGreen Facebook page was made in part to encourage social media buzz. Participants are invited to engage their friends (Facebook), circles (Google+) and followers (Twitter) within their social media networks to share information, promote the application and participate in challenges.

"These challenges are easy enough that anyone can participate – from the suburbanite in St. Louis to the San Francisco city dweller to the rural ranch owner in Montana – yet impactful enough to make a real difference," said Elizabeth Sorrell, Digital Media Manager for TogetherGreen at National Audubon Society. "TogetherGreen is all about people-powered conservation and we hope that Spring Greening proves that even small actions add up to large change."

Prizes for participation include weekly drawings for 25 winners to receive TogetherGreen t-shirts. Three grand prizes of $250, $100 and $50 gift certificates to Lowe's will be awarded from drawings at the conclusion of the challenge.

About TogetherGreen
Audubon and Toyota launched the five-year TogetherGreen initiative in 2008 to build the promise of a greener, healthier future through innovation, leadership and volunteerism. For more information, visit www.togethergreen.org.

About Audubon
Now in its second century, Audubon connects people with birds, nature and the environment that supports us all. Our national network of community-based nature centers, chapters, scientific, education, and advocacy programs engages millions of people from all walks of life in conservation action to protect and restore the natural world. Visit Audubon online at www.audubon.org.    

About Toyota
Toyota established operations in the United States in 1957 and currently operates 10 manufacturing plants. Toyota directly employs nearly 30,000 people in the U.S. and its investment here is currently valued at more than $18 billion, including sales and manufacturing operations, research and development, financial services and design.

Toyota is committed to being a good corporate citizen in the communities where it does business and believes in supporting programs with long-term sustainable results. Toyota supports numerous organizations across the country, focusing on education, the environment and safety. Since 1991, Toyota has contributed over half a billion dollars to philanthropic programs in the U.S.   For more information on Toyota's commitment to improving communities nationwide, visit http://www.toyota.com/community.

Contact:
Carousel30
Mary Margaret Plumridge
[email protected]
202.437.0518

Audubon
Elizabeth Sorrell
[email protected] 
212.979.3185

SOURCE Audubon