LONDONDERRY - This score card doesn't track a game. After all, winning or losing could mean the difference between life and death.
The Climate Counts score card, brainchild of Stonyfield Farm yogurt company President Gary Hirshberg, rates 56 corporations on their commitment to reduce global warming. Its goal is to influence the companies to become more environmentally friendly.
A nonprofit organization, Climate Counts is bankrolled by the Londonderry yogurt company. The program is two years in the making, but its roots reach back decades. Hirshberg studied climate at Hampshire College, graduating in 1971.
"Global warming is real," Hirshberg said. "We have 10 years to do something significant about it, and we can."
Climate Counts Project Director Wood Turner wants consumers to use the score card to guide purchases and investments and let companies know that their score informed decisions on whether to buy their products.
Consumer prodding will then hopefully cause companies to review their influence on greenhouse gas emissions and take actions to reduce the emissions, Turner said.
Hirshberg hopes it will have a similar impact as it did in South Africa, where economic policies helped end apartheid.
"With people increasingly concerned about the issue of climate change, Climate Counts gives companies a new way to build a bridge to engaged consumers," he said.
It could work like this: Someone is hungry for fast-food and consults the scores for McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's and Yum! Brands, which includes KFC.
Companies can tally between 0 and 100 (100 being the best), using 22 criteria that measure a company's climate "footprint"; reduction in their impact on global warming; support for legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; and public disclosure of their climate actions.
In the fast-food choice scenario, McDonald's scored a 22, Yum! Brands scored a 1 and both Wendy's and Burger King scored zeroes.
Plymouth State University economist Richard Sparks, whose areas of expertise include business and the environment, is convinced that people need to take action soon to combat global warming, and initiatives such as Climate Counts are important in raising awareness about the problem.
Speaking of the documentary on climate change, "An Inconvenient Truth," Sparks said, "It is very difficult to see that and not think we are at severe risk in terms of our way of life because of climate change."
The Climate Counts score card, brainchild of Stonyfield Farm yogurt company President Gary Hirshberg, rates 56 corporations on their commitment to reduce global warming. Its goal is to influence the companies to become more environmentally friendly.
A nonprofit organization, Climate Counts is bankrolled by the Londonderry yogurt company. The program is two years in the making, but its roots reach back decades. Hirshberg studied climate at Hampshire College, graduating in 1971.
"Global warming is real," Hirshberg said. "We have 10 years to do something significant about it, and we can."
Climate Counts Project Director Wood Turner wants consumers to use the score card to guide purchases and investments and let companies know that their score informed decisions on whether to buy their products.
Consumer prodding will then hopefully cause companies to review their influence on greenhouse gas emissions and take actions to reduce the emissions, Turner said.
Hirshberg hopes it will have a similar impact as it did in South Africa, where economic policies helped end apartheid.
"With people increasingly concerned about the issue of climate change, Climate Counts gives companies a new way to build a bridge to engaged consumers," he said.
It could work like this: Someone is hungry for fast-food and consults the scores for McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's and Yum! Brands, which includes KFC.
Companies can tally between 0 and 100 (100 being the best), using 22 criteria that measure a company's climate "footprint"; reduction in their impact on global warming; support for legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; and public disclosure of their climate actions.
In the fast-food choice scenario, McDonald's scored a 22, Yum! Brands scored a 1 and both Wendy's and Burger King scored zeroes.
Plymouth State University economist Richard Sparks, whose areas of expertise include business and the environment, is convinced that people need to take action soon to combat global warming, and initiatives such as Climate Counts are important in raising awareness about the problem.
Speaking of the documentary on climate change, "An Inconvenient Truth," Sparks said, "It is very difficult to see that and not think we are at severe risk in terms of our way of life because of climate change."
Consumers can get Climate Counts score card information several ways. They can go to www.climatecounts.org and look up a company's score, or they can download a pocket guide of scores. They also can use their cell phone by texting "cc," and the name of the company they want to find out about to 30644. Text messaging fees apply.
Climate Counts plans to expand its score card to include more companies. As it is, the 56 companies included in the project cover eight sectors from apparel to electronics to fast-food.
Canon, Nike and Unilever scored at the top on the inaugural score card, Turner said. At the bottom, with scores of zero, were Amazon.com, Jones Apparel, CBS and Darden Restaurants (which owns Red Lobster and Olive Garden), he said. Other companies tallying under 10 included big firms like Apple, eBay.com and Levi Strauss.
Not even Stonyfield is perfect. It failed to score in the top five, tallying 63 points.
Turner said he has received feedback from a dozen companies, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. There also are hundreds of consumers who endorse the program, he said. And Climate Counts has already started hearing from other companies asking to be included.
