Steely determination leads to first ever Climate Week
Posted by ericww on January 18, 2011
Image via Wikipedia
Not before time, 2011 sees the first ever Climate Week and its associated Climate Week Awards. The week itself runs from 21 to 27 March and the main driving force behind getting this event going is Kevin Steele.
Steele is a consummate and entrepreneurial social and environmental campaigner with an impressive track record and CV. He was the first CEO of Enterprise Insight (now Enterprise UK), which brought together the Institute of Directors (IoD), the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) and the Federation of Small Business (FSB) around one Board table, and spearheaded initiatives such as Make Your Mark and Global Entrepreneurship Week. Other credits to his name include co-founding National Family Week and conceiving the Trade Justice Movement.
And, when it comes to reeling big brands and corporate partners into the equation, Steele is a tenacious deal maker. Case in point for Climate Week is Tesco, which is the week’s headline partner (other supporting brands are: Aviva, EDF Energy, Kelloggs and RBS).
So what’s on offer? Pleasingly, the Week has begun to embrace the idea of pulling ‘green’ topics into the consumer mainstream (see a multitude of Home Zero Home posts passim for various blathering on this approach to taking eco messages to the masses).
Among the first shots in Climate Week’s communications activity is research that identifies the iconic personalities who are most likely to inspire people to do greener things.
According to the research, undertaken by Millward Brown to mark the launch of the Climate Week Awards, David Beckham is more likely to inspire us to save the planet than green fan Leonardo DiCaprio.
The research found a strong correlation between familiarity and green influence, showing that celebrities who are not actively ‘green’, like Beckham, still have tremendous potential to wade in on environmental issues. This also explains why, amongst female celebrities, X Factor judge Cheryl Cole beat known environmentalist Gwyneth Paltrow to be the woman most likely to make people more eco-friendly.
The Climate Week Awards will celebrate inspiring achievements by the greenest businesses, communities and people in the UK. Everyone will have the chance to influence the way society combats climate change by running an event for Climate Week, entering for an award or voting for their own Climate Week Hero
Related Articles
- David Beckham beats Leonardo DiCaprio in top green celebs list (mirror.co.uk)
- Forget Becks, it’s friends and families who will drive environmental action | Tony Juniper (guardian.co.uk)
- Only David Beckham Can Make Us Love The Environment (socialitelife.com)
Elaine Smith said
FYI Eric.
Vancouver Sun Jan 22 2011.
The entire UBC campus aims to become carbon neutral. John Robinson
Project director Centre for Interactive Research Sustainability (CRS) at the heart of the new project. Set to open this summer will cost no more than a LEED Gold Standard Office building about 8%more than a conventional office building.
Interesting article which might be of some interest.
ericww said
Elaine, many thanks for this… I’ll look into it, would be a good story and help to show learning organisations in the UK what good stuff is being done elsewhere!