Reporter: EI

Topeka Picks Up Yahoo!'s Green Gauntlet

On May 14th, the popular search engine Yahoo! launched the "Be a Better Planet" challenge to America's cities to find America's Greenest City. Along the way encouraging residents in communities across the nation to be more environmentally conscious.

The winning city will be announced after the competition ends on June 8th. The winning city takes home a fleet of ten fuel-efficient hybrid taxis, or Yahoo! will make an equivalent cash donation to a city greening project funded by the company. The winning city will also be featured on its Web site which reaches a half-billion people a month.

"This is a great opportunity for residents to increase awareness of green issues while supporting our city, and our environmental efforts," said Mayor Bill Bunten. "The more people who take the pledge, the more points for Topeka, and the better chance we'll have to capture the title of Greenest City in America."

For their part Topekans can do one or more of the following to win points for their town:

  • Take the Green Pledge: Visit http://better.yahoo.com/planet and commit to lowering their carbon diet by pledging such actions as changing their light bulbs, taking public transportation, using reusable shopping bags, properly inflating tires, and recycling.

  • Share Environmental Knowledge: Help save the planet by answering an environmental question and contributing to the growing body of knowledge and advice on Yahoo! Answers.

  • Gain Green Knowledge: Learn more about living a greener life by conducting a "green" mobile search on Yahoo! oneSearch, a new search service with results optimized for the mobile phone. Consumers can enter keywords such as "organic food," "public transport," "recycle center," "bike," and "ride share" to find relevent information.

    • Everyone participating in the challenge will receive a free energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) for registering.

    An interactive map (http://better.yahoo.com/planet) will track how well all participating cities are faring and their rank.

    Next Story >
    Comments are posted from viewers like you and do not always reflect the views of this station.
    powered by Disqus

    View All Sections

    Gray Television, Inc. - Copyright © 2002-2013

    Designed by Gray Digital Media