Green Living

To kick off the summer driving season, we promoted a rideshare day at the Realogy headquarters on Friday, June 20. For weeks we revved up the internal communications machine to drive participation through stump speeches, email newsletters, plasma screen promos, executive emails, flyers, sign up tables and water cooler talk. We even held out the carrot of two $50 gas cards. It was a full court press. The result? Out of a building population of about 900, we had 88 register with Nuride.com (not bad), and on the big day itself, about 25 people took the leap and carpooled into work.

It’s a modest start, I admit, but it’s a start all the same. Our sister company, Cartus, started their program three years ago and now have over 400 employees registered in the Nuride.com system. Over 180 participated in their Earth Day rideshare event this year. Someday, I hope to get to that level.

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SAN FRANCISCO-AREA RESIDENTS REPORT 87 PERCENT RECYLING PARTICIPATION RATES IN LIVING GREEN SURVEY

96 percent of respondents report feeling informed about eco-friendly living

PARSIPPANY, N.J. (April 10, 2008) — According to the Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate “Living Green Poll” taken at this year’s Macy’s West Flower Show in San Francisco on March 21-22, 87 percent of San Francisco-area residents reported that they had recycled products in the last six months when asked what “green” activities they had been engaging in. Looking to gauge the green living home practices of Americans in 15 different cities, the survey also found that among other green behaviors, 73 percent reported changing out incandescent lights with high-efficiency compact fluorescent lights (CFLs), and 64 percent reported using less water for daily activities.

When questioned as to how informed respondents felt regarding green issues, a resounding 96 percent reported feeling informed (55% said “somewhat informed,” 41% said “very informed”). When asked to respond to the question, “How green would you say you and your family are on a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is ‘not at all green’ and 10 is ‘very green?,’” the mean value reported was 6.41. This result aligned with San Franciscans’ thoughts about the city itself as they rated the city’s on average “greenness” as 6.27 on the 10-point scale.
“Our survey indicates that people are beginning to become more aware of the importance of this issue and what’s at stake,” said Sherry A. Chris, president and chief executive officer of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate LLC. “The respondents recognized that they can do more to green up their lifestyle and their home.”

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