Campaigns and Programs
Cater to the Earth
Ever wonder about the impacts of beef and corn, choosing local vs. organic, and buzzwords like "free range" and "all natural"? An increased focus on food, food politics, and sustainable agriculture means consumers have greater access to information about responsible food choices. Unfortunately, even for people who want to "do the right thing," not all the information out there is easily digestible. The Cater to the Earth campaign will address these issues by unpacking the buzzwords and finding the critical links between how your food choices affect the environment, your health, and social justice.
Over the next few weeks, we will expand our educational section and launch a personal pledge page to help illustrate how what you eat affects your carbon footprint. We’ll also blog about food issues, provide you with earth-- and belly-- friendly recipes to try out. The Responsible Purchasing Network will also produce a Green Dining Services guide identifying best practices for institutions looking to make their food-related purchases and services more environmentally sound.
Break the Bottled Water Habit
Want to save money, reduce waste, and promote safe, accessible tap water? Concerned about your personal health and carbon impact? Join New American Dream in breaking the bottled water habit. As your go-to source for all things bottled water, we’ll provide information on the health, environmental, and financial benefits of a bottle-less lifestyle and will help you identify safe, sustainable alternatives.
To kick off this program, the Responsible Purchasing Network has published a new purchasing guide for bottled water alternatives and will invite selected members to work closely with RPN to implement a bottled water reduction program.
C3 - Carbon Conscious Consumer Campaign
Big changes start with small steps! With this idea as the driving force, New American Dream launched “C3” (Carbon Conscious Consumer), a national campaign on climate change.
Phase One of the campaign, from June to December 2007, challenged individuals to start climate-friendly daily habits and inspire their friends and family to do the same. Over six months, we promoted six actions, including “Break the Bottled Water Habit,” “Bring Your Own Bag (BYOB), and “Junk Your Junk Mail.” Thanks to the participation of thousands around the country, the Carbon Conscious Consumer Campaign reduced more than 3.5 million pounds of carbon emissions!
Phase Two of the C3 campaign, also known as Carbon Conscious Communities, is now in full swing. We’ve partnered with six jurisdictions, including the State of California and the City of Montpelier, VT, to develop tailored plans for focused carbon reductions on the institutional and individual levels.
Conscious Consumer Marketplace
Need help finding energy efficient appliances, non-toxic cosmetics, sweatshop-free clothing, or your local farmers’ market? Want to know what’s behind the labels, or where to recycle in your neighborhood? The Conscious Consumer Marketplace has it!
New American Dream’s Conscious Consumer Marketplace makes it easier for individuals to support positive solutions in the marketplace by creating a space where socially and environmentally responsible companies and customers meet. This user-friendly space provides concise product issue information, business listings, local and online resources, and informative videos shot around the world to help you be a truly conscious consumer.
Responsible Purchasing Network
The Responsible Purchasing Network (RPN) is the go-to source for green procurement. We are a member-based network of 250 purchasing stakeholders working together to identify, buy, maintain, and dispose of or repurpose, socially and environmentally responsible goods and services.
Staffed and managed by the Center for a New American Dream and advised by a steering committee of leading procurement stakeholders, RPN promotes responsible purchasing by identifying best practices, developing effective purchasing tools, educating the market and utilizing its collective purchasing power. We base our practical tools and resources on credible product standards and proven strategies for addressing social and environmental considerations.
Alternative Gift Registry
Can you imagine a gift registry where you could give and receive time spent together and where presents celebrate your and your loved one’s unique talents and tastes? With the Alternative Gift Registry, you can give and receive gifts that complement your value system: the registry makes it easy to choose non-material, homemade, second-hand, and environmentally-friendly gifts.
For life events that typically emphasize acquisition of material goods, the Alternative Gift Registry is there to help you take a deep breath and choose what you truly want so you can stress less and celebrate more.
New Dream Community and Outreach
Do you yearn for not just more, but more of what matters? You're not alone. The New Dream Community is comprised of innovators, activists, busy parents, college students, avid professionals and thousands who strive to live consciously, buy wisely, and make a difference. We care about the health of our natural world, about social justice for people across the globe, and about living lives that fulfill our deepest needs.
Our online tools help you connect with other New Dreamers on and offline, take meaningful actions to influence businesses and policymakers, track the impact of your personal steps to promote a sustainable future, find and publicize events, and more.
Kids and Commercialism
Raising independent-minded kids in today's highly commercialized culture can be tough. The Center for a New American Dream’s Kids and Commercialism Campaign raises awareness of the effects of marketing on kids. We offer practical tips and tools that help adults teach kids the financial skills and media literacy necessary to tune out the siren’s song of excessive advertising, and experience the joy of having more fun with less stuff.
Simplify the Holidays!
Do you sometimes feel trapped by the shopping, spending, and frenzied preparations of the holiday season? Long for a holiday wrapped more in meaning and less in stuff? The Center for a New American Dream offers advice on how to reclaim the season. Learn about alternative gift fairs in you area. Read our creative tips for inexpensive and environmentally responsible holiday gifts. Share your own ideas.
Declare your Independence from Junk Mail
Whether you hate to waste energy and trees, can't stand invasive advertising, or just feel buried in clutter, our site can help! We have tools to help you reduce your junk mail and participate in actions from telling businesses to green their catalogs to asking Congress to expand the Do Not Call registry to make it easier for you to opt out of unsolicited ad mail.
Turn the Tide: Nine Actions for the Planet
Featuring nine simple actions almost anyone can take, Turn the Tide helps you help the environment. We’ll provide you with a personal web space with online calculators to track the positive impact of your actions and see the cumulative impacts of all participants across North America. Turn the Tide participants have already saved over a billion gallons of water, prevented the release of millions of pounds of climate changing gases, and reduced their ecological footprint on ecosystems around the globe.