Being environmentally conscious can sometimes seem overwhelming. For Starbucks’ Green Initiative, our goal was to show that if everyone made one small change, we could in fact change the world.

On March 18 – 19, in New York, we created a massive event where thousands of people traded in their paper cups for reusable mugs. Artists used the individual cups to create a mosaic image of a sequoia tree. The image was symbolic of the larger impact we can have if we all do our part.The event was documented, creating a :60 television spot that encouraged people all over the country to bring a reusable mug into Starbucks on April 15th and receive a free cup of coffee.The film was then posted to YouTube, Starbucks’ Facebook page, and the Starbucks website, where people were invited to calculate their daily impact, and encouraged to take the pledge to switch to a reusable mug.

The campaign has been extremely successful in driving over one million people to bring a reusable mug into Starbucks on April 15th. On Facebook, 790,000 fans participated from around the world. And on Starbucks.com, thousands of people have pledged to switch from paper cups to reusable mugs, saving an estimated 10,000 trees per year.