I’ve come onto my new-post screen today to wax lyrical about something cool.
It’s not a new thing (I believe it was born in 2010) but the other day I was wondering how they were getting on, and it turns out they’re doing swimmingly. They’re now global and have success stories from all over the world. This cool thing, lovely reader, is 10:10.
Have you heard of it? I hope you have. It’s an organisation encouraging people to cut their carbon emissions by 10% at a time. I think it’s name relates to ‘cutting your carbon emissions by 10% in 2010’ – but that year has obviously passed now and, understandably, they wanted to carry on their work.
It was founded by Franny Armstrong, director of The Age of Stupid, and is based on the ethos that climate change is a big scary problem and what we need are bite-size, tangible and achievable targets to tackle it. The concept is definitely popular – it’s had loads of press coverage and buckets of high profile celebrity support. The website proudly proclaims that at this moment, 77,556 individuals, 3,121 businesses, 1,710 educational institutions and 1,514 other organisations are signed up. Pretty impressive! The website lets you sign the 10:10 pledge and then offers helpful advice on ways to cut your carbon. They also run political campaigns such as Lighter Later, and support schools buying solar panels with their Solar Schools project. They even have these cool little necklaces made of a crashed aeroplane (really!) that you can wear to advocate your pledge. I have one and it’s actually one of my favourite pieces of jewellery.
By the way their website is http://www.1010global.org/uk – you should really take a look.
Something I think is noteworthy about 10:10 is their fantastic graphic design and PR. Their website is easy on the eyes, is clean, cool and easy to use. I can tell you their email newsletter is the same. Their textual style is chatty and casual. All their promotional materials rise to the occasion of you know, promoting them. They have a cohesive house style.
Now of course the fact that it’s a great and timely idea, the team are obviously passionate and the whole thing is full of heart, can account for a lot of their success. But I think it actually takes more than that. The attention to detail with the aesthetics is more important than one might think, and I feel this is where many projects with a great ethos fall on their faces. In today’s hectic world, most people only have time for stuff that is pretty and convenient, and this is probably why 10:10 seems to have reached out to not just the hard-core greenie but the Jo Bloggs as well. The importance of that achievement can hardly be stressed enough.
Congratulations 10:10!
Images from the 10:10 website. (Linked above)
Earth Baby 