If CarbonfreeDC won, our organization would launch the “Extreme Green Neighborhood Makeover” campaign. We would use the $20,000 to help 20 families from a low-income city block in Washington, DC to green their homes and lifestyles as they choose. For each home, we could purchase affordable carbon-reducing and money saving solutions like CFL bulbs, programmable thermostats, weather stripping, low-flow showerheads, power-down power strips, water heater insulation blankets and Energy Star-rated appliances. We would ask eco-consultants to donate their time to do a complete energy audit of each home and recruit volunteers from our own 650-member organization to help the families install the equipment.

The Makeover wouldn’t end there. CarbonfreeDC would also extend our existing series of successful workshops and bring them right to the neighborhood. Here participants and their neighbors would learn about things like energy efficiency, recycling, organic foods, vegetable gardening, composting and no-mow yard maintenance. Finally, we’d calculate the energy, money and carbon savings for the participating families and publicize their stories, if desired, to inspire others to follow.

All of this would be free for participants and would be completed in about 6-8 weeks.

To celebrate their accomplishment, participants would receive free tickets to attend an inspiring lecture at the National Geographic Museum followed by a reception!

Throughout the campaign, CarbonfreeDC would produce original written and video content to attract local and national media coverage in order to entice potential funders to support additional iterations of the “Extreme Green Neighborhood Makeover.”