Carrotmobbing - eco-pimp your supermarket!

If we say fairtrade you probably think of Oxfam and Max Havelaar within two seconds (don't worry, that counts for us too), but fairtrade is so much more than that. Get ready for a long Fairtrade week from 3 til 13 October,  full of events and surprising initiatives in order to help you reflect on the choices you make when shopping. 

We picked out a very special one for you and I must say, it's a genius idea to which we can only say: yes, yes, YES! Coming from the USA but already organized in Antwerp in 2009 and now finally also in Ghent: Carrotmobbing! The principle is very simple: the more people go shopping at a certain supermarket on a certain day, the more money that supermarket spends on eco-pimping itself. For this very first edition Spar Nieuw Gent (Zwijnaardsesteenweg 752) is the place to be on Saturday 6 October. 

But why?, we hear you thinking. Well, here's why:

THE RABBITS: Carrotmobbing has been a global phenomenon for a couple of years now. How did you know that the time had come to involve Ghent in it as well?

MICHAEL FOCKEDEY (Carrotmob Gent): The city of Ghent aims to be carbon neutral by 2050. Therefore a climate covenant has been established which was endorsed by the current coalition. In order to meet this target, the city of Ghent wants to involve as much citizens as possible in this process. That is why, in 2011, a "transition arena" took place in order to reveal the paths to a carbon neutral city. Twenty transition paths, related to transport & mobility, water recuperation, energy, housing, social structure, consumption, etc., were formulated and some of these paths generated working groups: the Carrotmob for example was born in November 2011 out of the transition path “the consumer is pushing the market”.

THE RABBITS: What made you pick the Spar mini-market at Zwijnaardsesteenweg as an opener?

MICHAEL FOCKEDEY: This particular Spar mini-market could offer the most. We wrote to sixteen mini-markets in and around Ghent asking them what percentage of their daily turnover they wanted to invest in energy saving measures. More or less six markets replied, but only Spar Nieuw Gent offered as much as 103%. Other markets could only offer 20 to 40%.

THE RABBITS: Will there be Carrotmobs in larger department stores in the future?

MICHAEL FOCKEDEY: In October we will evaluate our first Carrotmob and take a break in order to recover and reflect on things. After that we’ll see what comes next. Our six Carrotmob members all have a fulltime job and organize this event after working hours… We'll see, maybe new volunteers will join the team so we can mob a larger store someday!

THE RABBITS: What are your estimations on the number of people that will attend on 6 October?

MICHAEL FOCKEDEY: Personally, my estimations have always been around 400 mobbers. In addition to the regular customers, I hope this will induce a pleasant crowd in and outside the shop. We thought of entertainment as well so no one will get bored: we’ll have a makeup artist, Radio Topkaas is coming, there will be fair trade samples, a fair trade photography competition, a fair trade restaurant competition, etc.

THE RABBITS: How will you follow-up on the investments that are made in the supermarket and on how the money is spent?

MICHAEL FOCKEDEY: The shopkeeper undersigned a commitment statement, prescribing that the promised investments (103% of the total daily turnover on 6 October) should be accomplished within the ten following months. A couple of weeks ago we did a professional energy audit in collaboration with E-maze at the Spar mini-market and we’re expecting a detailed energy report to come in this week, indicating the quick-wins on one hand and the long-term investments on the other hand.

We sure hope you are as convinced as we are. Let's go eco-pimp this mini-market!

www.facebook.com/CarrotmobGent
www.carrotmob.org
www.facebook.com/weekvandefairtrade