first carrotmob on bloor?
A basic plan
Exciting days to come. Similar to the first mob in San Francisco, our plan is to hit grocery stores around the Bathurst and Bloor area. For the winning grocery store (who has competed against other nearby stores in their area) must agree to two things:
1) Offer the highest percent of the income the store receives from the mob to be put back into their store for energy efficient renovations. (as with San Francisco, the store offered 22% of their earnings)
Unlike San Francisco mob, there are plenty of incentives and subsidies the Ontario Green Energy Act offers which may be able to double the amount the mob spends for “green” retrofits:
http://www.pwc.com/ca/en/sustainability/green-incentives.jhtml
http://www.oaa.on.ca/client/oaa/OAAHome.nsf/ArchNewsBydate/421D546A99F490908525756700581370!opendocument
This is a major win-win. An energy efficient store can save tons of money every year – and one more store using less energy is good for everyone.
2) The store becomes Local Food Plus certified http://www.localfoodplus.ca . LFP is a non profit organization that certifies farmers and processors that provide local and sustainable food under a number of conditions such as lowering and eliminating pesticide use, guaranteeing fair wages for workers, committing to lowering energy use and of course that the farm exists on Ontario soil. Retailers are also certified if they agree to sell a certain percent of their food to come from LFP farms. For example The University of Toronto was the first university to be LFP certified in Canada, guaranteeing that 10% for their food sold comes from LFP processors – and the next time they are certified, it will have to be 20%.
To avoid any wacky legal trouble, LFP is not a partnering with Carrotmob Toronto as of yet…let us just say we have had a great conversation and planned coffee date. I mean, you wouldn’t call someone your girlfriend after only one date right?
The Groceries

This gives you an idea just how many grocery stores exist in the small area around Bathurst and Bloor. Ideally we would offer the mob to all of these stores plus a few more, and of course, have them compete against each other for our mob.
More to come
It was suggested that the “Mob Attack” be Saturday, March 27 – conveniently timed with Earth Hour http://www.earthhour.org/
Beginning the first weeks of February, mobsters will be out visiting nearby grocery stores, getting contact information and discussing Carrotmob. Want to help? carrotmob.to@gmail.com
My recommendation is for fans on facebook to re-post this blog on your own facebook profile – it will catch on faster than simply suggesting your friends to become “fans”.
And that’s it! till next time, see you on Bloor,
-Nico
