Press Release - Brighter Planet

Learn about our Company

Fresh green solutions.

Brighter Planet makes it easier for anyone to get involved in the fight against climate change. Simply put, we help people manage their environmental footprint.

Our free social web application (brighterplanet.com) serves everyone, no matter their "greenness" or scientific interest. People measure their climate impact, discover tailored conservation tips to save energy and money, create emission-reducing strategies, and share their ideas and experiences. Visitors answer questions powered by a sophisticated emissions model and watch their carbon footprint-as individual as a fingerprint-emerge. Each footprint, unlike a fingerprint, changes over time as people learn to live more carbon free.

We believe in the power of community. Our web-based campaigns, such as the 350 Challenge, Climate Matters video contest, and #earthtweet tweet-a-thon, are fun ways for people to share and engage. We partner with a diverse range of organizations-large and small, for profit and non-profit-all united to support solutions to the climate crisis.

We offer products that people use in their daily lives, allowing them to become CO2 fighters. Our no-fee Brighter Planet Visa credit and debit cards earn innovative rewards that help build renewable energy projects. O ffsets by Brighte r Planet counteract unavoidable emissions from things like home energy or traveling to work or play.

Our members invest in the most reputable climate solutions. We search for wind turbines, cow power installations, and other clean energy projects that demonstrate community and social value while reducing greenhouse gases being pumped into the atmosphere. We pit project candidates against our stringent carbon offset policy and accept only those unanimously approved by the luminaries on our Project Selection Committee.

Our roots trace back to a Middlebury College environmental economics class project. Class ended, but Professor Jon Isham and students Andy Rossmeissl and Jake Whitcomb continued shaping the concept. Summer of 2006, Brighter Planet was founded. Fall of 2006, veteran executive Patti Prairie joined the cause as CEO. Since launching in November 2007, more than 100,000 people in all 50 states have used our products and services.

At Brighter Planet, we're proud to be pioneers of a new environmentalism: one that is accessible to everyone, fits easily with one's lifestyle, and is fun to share. We invite you to sign up and join our growing community!

For more information, please visit us at brighterplanet.com.

SustainUS Agents of Change Awarded Grant to Send Youth Delegates to Copenhagen

Nov 18, 2009 7:14 AM CST

(Justmeans.com / CSR News) - Washington, DC- The Agents of Change program, run by SustainUS, has been awarded $5,000 from the Brighter Planet Project Fund, a monthly micro-granting program focused on fighting climate change. The project, Agents of Change Copenhagen Delegation, will send a 27-person delegation to the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, also known as COP15.

Powered by Brighter Planet’s social website to nominate and vote on projects of merit, the Project Fund seeds the growth of the climate movement from the ground up. With twenty-four worthy projects nominated this month, members cast the most votes for Agents of Change Copenhagen Delegation. Brighter Planet customers endow the Project Fund by using the company’s products and services. Members think of it like a grassroots stimulus package for the climate.

“November’s Project Fund grant will help SustainUS send delegates selected through a competitive nation-wide process to Copenhagen,” said Patti Prairie, Brighter Planet’s CEO. “Youth delegates who otherwise would not be able to attend will further their knowledge of climate change issues and make their voices heard.” Brighter Planet will also donate carbon offsets to ensure that their travel is carbon neutral.

Over the next few weeks, SustainUS and the Agents of Change will continue their leadership in the global youth climate movement. The team, run entirely by volunteers under the age of 26, will lead workshops before COP15 during the annual Conference of Youth. They will document their work on www.sustainUS.org and give presentations in their home communities after the negotiations.

Brighter Planet community members vote for next month’s grant recipient starting December 1st. Submissions are now open for December’s Project Fund grant of up to $5,170.

About Brighter Planet

Brighter Planet (www.brighterplanet.com) helps people manage their environmental footprint. The clean-energy start-up is pioneering a new environmentalism — one that is accessible to everyone, fits one's lifestyle, and is fun to share. Its engaging campaigns tap the power of social media to help people learn about emissions, conserve what they can, and offset the rest. To date, more than 100,000 customers have used the company’s climate change solutions, the Brighter Planet Visa debit and credit cards and Offsets by Brighter Planet, to invest in reputable American renewable energy projects.

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SOURCE Brighter Planet

Matt Vaughan 09am November 19

Congrats to the folks at SustainUS! We're happy to support such a motivated group make a difference in Copenhagen.