Londoners get out and go green
The environment continues to generate a lot of buzz in the Forest. From former United States Vice-President and Oscar winner Al Gore coming to the London Convention Centre and talking about his Oscar winning movie, to getting a visit from Canada's latest environment crusader Justin Trudeau back in February, it seems like London is doing all it can to help with the environment.
During the last week of May Londoners were asked to walk as much as they could, and keep track of it. It was the first Walk On event, and it was met with great success. The London healthy living partnership along with the London Public Library teamed up to promote the library's new service, the renting of pedometers. Pedometers, which are normally clipped to ones belt, keeps track of how many steps the user takes. While on their own they can be a bit pricey, now you can rent one for free from the public library with a valid library card. While keeping track of their steps, Walk On participants sent results to the healthy living partnership, where they kept track of how many steps were logged. The names of the walkers would then be entered in a draw for $250 downtown dollars.
While the library was launching this, they joined with the healthy living partnership and tried to think of a way to promote it. Lindsay Sage, the director of marketing for the London Public Library, says that thinking of an event that gets people to rent pedometers was a bit of a challenge.
“We tried to think of ways that would be more interesting than the norm to promote something like a pedometer lending program,” said Sage. “If you think about it in itself, a pedometer isn't really a ‘sexy item' so to speak, but healthy living is very important, and it is very timely and it is very much in our minds right now. The challenge is a bit of a different incentive to get people out”
The Walk On challenge ran from the week of May 28th -June 1st, and the response was overwhelming. The original goal for Walk On was to have one million steps. They easily met this goal, and beat it by 200,000.
One other recent environmental event was the 17th annual Bicycle Festival. The week long festival promotes bicycle safety, maintenance, but mostly importantly, encourages people to find alternative ways of transportation. The festival used to be called “bike to work week”, but has grown to include all modes of transportation. The festival will run again next year during the first week in June.
During the last week of May Londoners were asked to walk as much as they could, and keep track of it. It was the first Walk On event, and it was met with great success. The London healthy living partnership along with the London Public Library teamed up to promote the library's new service, the renting of pedometers. Pedometers, which are normally clipped to ones belt, keeps track of how many steps the user takes. While on their own they can be a bit pricey, now you can rent one for free from the public library with a valid library card. While keeping track of their steps, Walk On participants sent results to the healthy living partnership, where they kept track of how many steps were logged. The names of the walkers would then be entered in a draw for $250 downtown dollars.
While the library was launching this, they joined with the healthy living partnership and tried to think of a way to promote it. Lindsay Sage, the director of marketing for the London Public Library, says that thinking of an event that gets people to rent pedometers was a bit of a challenge.
“We tried to think of ways that would be more interesting than the norm to promote something like a pedometer lending program,” said Sage. “If you think about it in itself, a pedometer isn't really a ‘sexy item' so to speak, but healthy living is very important, and it is very timely and it is very much in our minds right now. The challenge is a bit of a different incentive to get people out”
The Walk On challenge ran from the week of May 28th -June 1st, and the response was overwhelming. The original goal for Walk On was to have one million steps. They easily met this goal, and beat it by 200,000.
One other recent environmental event was the 17th annual Bicycle Festival. The week long festival promotes bicycle safety, maintenance, but mostly importantly, encourages people to find alternative ways of transportation. The festival used to be called “bike to work week”, but has grown to include all modes of transportation. The festival will run again next year during the first week in June.
