Help Make an Impact Win a CLASSY Award

“All kids growing up in this generation know how they’re impacting the environment. We’re teaching today’s kids about recycling and being responsible.”
- Shawn Kerr, eighth-grade science teacher at Alcoa Middle School in Alcoa, TN.

Fifteen schools participated in the Make an Impact: Change Our 2morrow (MAI CO2) [2] schools’ challenge, an educational energy conservation competition led by the Center’s Make an Impact (MAI) initiative in partnership with Alcoa. Mr. Kerr’s words sum up the program’s outcome, in which Make an Impact, a corporate employee and community engagement program [3], expanded the reach of its energy efficiency message to middle and high schools in five Alcoa communities across four states this spring.

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Alcoa Middle School principle Jim Kirk holds up the $1,000 check that the school won for being named a regional runner-up in the MAI: CO2 schools’ challenge.

We had high hopes for the MAI CO2 campaign, but our success at engaging a younger audience in acting on energy efficiency far exceeded our expectations. In one month, we reached more than 8,000 students/parents/teachers and motivated them to calculate their carbon footprint with the Make an Impact calculator [5]. The program wasn’t just about students realizing their impact on the earth; we also tried to teach and empower these young individuals to make a difference – by saving energy, money, and the planet. Between March 14 and April 11, participants identified [6] more than 14.4 million pounds of potential carbon savings and an estimated $1.75 million in energy savings.

As a result of our work on the schools’ program, the MAI: CO2 challenge is a finalist for the CLASSY Awards [7], which recognize the most outstanding philanthropic achievements by charities, businesses, and individuals nationwide. MAI CO2 is a top 25 finalist in the Most Effective Awareness Campaign by a Charity category.

We are honored to be nominated, and we invite (and encourage!) you to vote for the Center’s Make an Impact: Change Our 2morrow Schools’ Challenge. It’s simple - click this link [7] and:

1. Select the category: Most Effective Awareness Campaign by a Charity
2. Find the organization: Pew Center on Global Climate Change
3. Vote! Deadline is August 26!

After voting, please feel free to tweet, post on Facebook, and share broadly with others. If you would like to learn more about our schools’ challenge, please click here [8]. Thank you for supporting our efforts and remember: individually we can make a difference, but together we can Make an Impact!

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MAI CO2 leaderboard