Cambridge

Be sure to follow us on Twitter to receive updates on the go and to communicate with the mob! find us here: http://twitter.com/cmobcambridge . We’ll all be tweeting live at the next Carrotmob Cambridge event, and hope you join us! On the bid day, use #cmobcambridge for the world to see!

Everybody wins!

A big YO to the mob! This is Maegan, I’m one of the Cambridge co-organizers with Johnny and Gabe, and I couldn’t be more excited to say that. I’m a junior undergrad at Tufts, studying Peace and Justice and Community Health. I trace my Carrotmob allegiance to the throwback ‘Carrotmob Makes it Rain’ smash hit, so I brought my obsession with all-things-Virgance over to the West Coast as an intern this summer. Working at Virgance was an absolute dream; we did a lot o’ good hard serious work, but also made sure there were plenty of rainbows and unicorns around.

k&d market, the O-G

The chance to meet and hangout at Carrotmob HQ with the master himself (along with the rest of the gang) was an honor, an inspiration, and a blast [check out Brent's unmatched feat of athletic heroism as he leaps my face]; the end of the summer sent Johnny and me Eastwards with tons of ideas and enthusiasm about making a hometown Carrotmob happen here.

As Massachusetts ascends to its infamous autumnal crescendo, boots and scarves make a triumphant return to the wardrobe, everything is flavored like pumpkin, ginger, and/or maple, and we’ve got a seriously delicious Carrotmob Cake baking in the oven (I’ve got even more carrot puns for all those conscientious consumers who dig on wordplay).

We’re so excited for C-mob C-bridge to make some statements with our dollars, however limited those student ones may be. I’ve only got a couple, and I’m ready to say something with ‘em.

Help spread the hype and the build the mob, circulate this blog around and let us know what you think, Cambridge!

Dear Cambridge,

As one of the three organizers, I can’t tell you how excited we are to be throwing Boston’s first Carrotmob!

A little bit about me: I moved to Cambridge about one year ago to pursue my MBA at Harvard Business School.  At school I am focused on the intersection between business and the environment.  I help lead HBS’ Greentech & Sustainability Club and prior to school I worked with a small grass-fed beef company in California.  My passion for environmentally-oriented ventures continues to drive my interests today and Carrotmob, with its ability to organize our collective buying power to make postive changes amongst our local merchants, is undoubtedly one of the most innovative ideas on the horizon.

Please consider taking part in Carrotmob Cambridge.  It may be something you tell your grandchildren about!

Gabe Turner

The Carrotmob Cambridge team has been working for  a while now on coming up with the right Carrotmob theme, that makes the most sense for our community. This post will lead you through our thinking to date. Cambridge, as you know, is a community filled with riches, old buildings… yadda yadda yadda… AND STUDENTS.

Students represent a huge part of Cambidge life, the economy, and well, unfortunately we’re responsible for some of the worst kinds of waste around town. We actually went around to a number of shops bright-eyed and chipper and were laughed at by store-owners when we first pitched Carrotmob here. Store owners said things like: “Wait, you want to change us? Your schools are the biggest garbage barfing, CO2 emitting, energy inefficient operations in town.” It was kind of a humbling thing to realize, and it got us thinking about the impact we have as students around town. So in thinking about what to do in Cambridge, we know we’ve got to start with students. The challenge now is identifying the places around town that students visit most frequently–where we otherwise create our mess. The big question now is, how can we turn the profiteers of our laziness and apathy into our biggest partners in change? And of course, who will step up to the plate with the largest commitment to sustainability? Time will only tell, but stay tuned for details!

So this is our charge Carrotmob Cambridge: Find the store that will make the biggest commitment to greening its operations and reward it with our business.

So what do you think? We want to hear from you! Know anyone we should be talking to? Leave comments and let us know how you think we should proceed!

Hello Cambridge!

We’re here! It’s happening! Carrotmob Cambridge is just around the corner!

Lemme just briefly introduce myself though before getting into some of the details about what’s cookin’ in Cambridge. My name is Johnny and I’m hooked on Carrotmob’s “carrot instead of the stick” philosophy. I’m a second year student at the Kennedy School at Harvard and had the totally awesome experience this summer of interning at Carrotmob headquarters in San Francisco. Every. Day. At. Work. Was. Incredible. I watched carrotmob after carrotmob sprout up across the country and around the world, and I knew that Cambridge would be ripe for one as soon as I got back. Yup, I pretty much had too much of the kool-aid and am kind of obsessed with this idea…

Riding the Delhi Metro

So what’s up with this “carrot” you ask, and what’s this whole “mob” thing anyway? Well, for a really simple, elegant, intro you should check out the main site here: http://carrotmob.org. In a sentence though, carrotmobs reward leaders in business who agree to go green in exchange for lots of new business, provided by the mob–made up of people like me and you. Instead of threatening a boycott to provoke change, we chart a new, positive path to change with companies (hence, using the carrot, never the stick to bring about change). It’s what we call a reverse boycott. And it’s working! Carrotmobs have now happened in at least a dozen countries and the environmental impact is mounting.

And now it’s our turn, Cambridge, to put our money where our mouth is and get involved! Literally. Check out the next post on what our team is thinking for which kind of company should be mobbed in Cambridge….