Organizational History and Highlights
New American Dream was founded in 1997 to address the environmental and social impacts of unsustainable consumption. In a little over a decade of existence, we have reached tens of millions of Americans through targeted media campaigns, shifted billions of dollars into environmentally superior goods through our Responsible Purchasing Network, and built a New Dream Community of more than 140,000 Americans who embrace less materialistic lifestyles and make healthier choices. We have two core audiences: individuals and institutions. Some notable successes of our individual work include:
- Enabling tens of thousands of people to fight advertising to kids, get off junk mail lists, and simplify their holidays by using our popular guides and kits;
- Persuading AAA to withdraw its 45 million members from an anti-environmental trade association;
- Helping to convince Staples to increase the percentage of post-consumer waste in its paper products and stop stocking paper from endangered forests;
- Convincing Lego to adopt a worldwide policy against advertising in schools;
- Collecting nearly 70,000 carbon-reduction pledges in only six months from individuals nationwide as part of our Carbon Conscious Consumer (C3) program.
New American Dream has also worked since 2000 to help institutions become more sustainable. In 2007 we launched the Responsible Purchasing Network (RPN), a membership-based coalition of institutions committed to leveraging their collective power to shift the marketplace. In its short existence, RPN has already:
- Helped the U.S. EPA create the environmentally preferable EPEAT computer standard which has already been adopted by three states and several other large institutions;
- Worked with Massachusetts to create standards for green cleaning products which have been adopted by nearly 100 manufacturers, nine states, and dozens of other entities;
- Convinced the US House of Representatives to shift to 100% post-consumer waste recycled copy paper for all 435 congressional offices;
- Enabled Wisconsin to become the largest state purchaser of grid-delivered electricity from renewable sources;
- Collaborated with New York on crafting an executive order mandating the creation of a statewide green procurement program that requires, among many things, a switch to 100% PCW recycled, processed chlorine-free copy paper.
In the coming years, New American Dream will continue to provide individuals with campaigns and resources they need to make smart choices and be effective advocates, while helping large institutions shift the market toward greener goods through our Responsible Purchasing Network.