Why, if individual action won’t do, would someone as business-savvy as Mayor Bloomberg invest in a mascot to get New Yorkers to change their behavior?
Well, it’s cute. It even has its own Facebook persona.
Moreover, it does get individuals to change. If your goal is to get New Yorkers to stop idling their engines and to drink more tap water, tell them. Some may well do it.
The emphasis is on “some.” At latest count, Birdie has 1,059 Facebook friends. That’s more than your typical bird, but there’s some growth potential in a city of 8,000,000.
To reach the masses, it can’t hurt that many of the messages tell New Yorkers that making a change will save them money.
If doing the right thing is good for the planet and for you, tweet it from the rooftops.
If doing the right thing is good for the planet but actually costs you, good luck getting more than a few hipsters to listen. Save your advertising dollars. Instead, pass laws that make it in people’s self-interest to do the right thing. New York has anti-idling and pro-recycling laws for good reason.
Sadly, of course, while it’s terrific for NYC to have ambitious goals of slashing carbon emissions, even the Big Apple won’t take much of a bite out of global pollution trends.
