climate | Be a Seed for Change

Join the 1 Billion People Fighting Global Hunger

“The defining human tragedy of this century.”

That’s how a recent Oxfam report described the fact that rapid climate change is exacerbating hunger all around the globe.

It’s a story that’s too often missed. And as world leaders gather at a climate change summit in Cancun this week, we have just a few days to shine a bright light on how climate is intimately connected to hunger.

Stand up for the world’s poor and fight hunger now.

Evidence of the changing climate’s impact on hunger is everywhere.

We saw it in Pakistan, where massive, devastating floods swamped farmland, decimated crops, and left more than 10 million people in dire need of food aid.

We’ve seen it in Russia, where droughts have driven the price of wheat sky-high in some regions, increasing the number of struggling families.

And we see it in Kenya, where farmers no longer know when to expect rain, causing seasons of failed harvests.

The World Food Programme estimates that climate change is expected to add another 10-20% to the total of hungry people by 2050. The poor and malnourished are especially vulnerable to the impacts of extreme weather and climate-related natural disasters. And, as rainfalls become more sporadic and temperatures increase, hundreds of millions of farmers worldwide will have to abandon traditional crops and try to adapt.

Take a stand against hunger now, before the talks in Cancun conclude.

And once you add your name, will you forward this email to friends and family and encourage them to do the same?

Thanks for taking action,

The Change.org team

Over the last few years, there has been a great deal of public discussion about the need to transition to sources of energy beyond fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum. The reasons are clear: some of these fuels are likely to be exhausted in the next few decades, the U.S. must import large amounts of oil and all fossil fuels create some level of pollution. To commemorate Earth Day, The Nielsen Company studied the top 10 DMA markets most likely to participate in renewable energy programs derived from natural resources such as the sun, the wind, water, geothermal and biomass. These are abundant in supply and do no harm to the environment. Companies and consumers are looking at these energy alternatives to reduce their carbon footprint and ensure a sustainable energy future.

Residents in the San Francisco metro area were the most likely to participate in such programs – not much of a surprise given the region’s long-time reputation for being among the most environmentally conscientious areas in the country. More surprising might be the second and third ranked metro areas of Los Angeles and the Washington, DC.

Top 10 Market Potentials for Utility Green Energy Programs
Rank	DMA	Users/100 HHS	Index
1	San Francisco metro area, CA	4.54	138
2	Los Angeles, CA	4.1	125
3	Washington metro area, DC-MD	4.04	123
4	New York, NY	4.01	122
5	San Diego, CA	3.95	121
6	Chicago, IL	3.95	120
7	Las Vegas, NV	3.86	118
8	Sacramento metro area, CA	3.77	115
9	Salt Lake City, UT	3.74	114
10	Houston, TX	3.71	113
Source: The Nielsen Company

Nielsen works with a number of utilities around the U.S. to help them evaluate such programs. One such client is Oregon’s Portland General Electric (PGE), which has been recognized as having one of the most successful residential programs of its kind. While the Portland DMA falls just outside of the Top 10 market potential report above, PGE’s customers have enthusiastically adopted this program, and participation levels are approximately three times the national average for residential renewable energy programs. With 73,000 renewable power customers, PGE is constantly evaluating customer “touch-points” to make enrollment into renewable programs easy.

“Embracing renewable power is one of the easiest ways for customers to reduce their carbon footprint,” said Thor Hinckley, Manager of PGE Renewable Power Program. “We have to thank our more than 73,000 renewable power customers who have made PGE’s renewable power program one of the nation’s most successful. For the past four years, PGE residential customers have purchased more renewable power than from any other utility in the nation.”

“As PGE has shown, there is greater market potential out there for renewable energy support from the U.S. consumer than has been tapped. Understanding which households and consumers embrace renewable energy will continue to be a driving factor in the success of these types of programs nationwide,” said Jonathan Drost, Account Executive, Nielsen Claritas.