U.S. cities, firms to push consumer climate fight
ju4 wa4i dia4n zo1ng he2 ba4o da4o :\n  By Timothy Gardner\nNEW YORK, June 4 (Reuters) - A campaign founded in Europe\nto help consumers fight climate change will be launched in the\nUnited States on Thursday by U.S. cities including New York,\nleading American companies and non-profit groups.\nNew York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, California Gov. Arnold\nSchwarzenegger and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, along\nwith U.S. companies from JP Morgan Chase & Co. <JPM.N> to\nTarget Corp. <TGT.N>, are involved in the Together campaign.\nThe initiative plans to steer people toward the most\nenvironmentally friendly products and encourage green\npractices, such as consumers' opting out of receiving paper\ncatalogues.\n"Everyone has been talking about big government fighting\nclimate change but more and more consumers are looking for\nbrands to play a role in helping to solve the problem," Callum\nGrieve, North American external affairs director of The Climate\nGroup, a non-profit initiating Together, told Reuters.\nThe Climate Group launched Europe's Together program last\nyear with the help of then-Prime Minister Tony Blair. Since\nthen, it has helped consumers cut 522,00O tonnes of carbon\ndioxide and saved them over $200 million on household energy\nbills, the group said.\nBloomberg and Ban are set to help launch Together on\nThursday, with mayors from cities including Seattle, Miami and\nBoston taking part.\nAs the governments of the world's top greenhouse gas\nemitters, including the United States, China, India and the\nEuropean Union, struggle to form a global alliance to cut\nemissions, The Climate Group says Together can help individuals\nmake small carbon output cuts that combined can make big dents\nin energy use and emissions.\nSET TO GO GLOBAL\nCities and companies will help guide consumers to products\nlike shower heads that cut water flow and energy efficient\nappliances through a Web site, www.together.com.\nSome so-called "green" goods are more environmentally\nfriendly than others, so The Climate Group will determine which\ngoods are best with a third party group called Environmental\nResources Management, it said.\nU.S. companies plan to offer green solutions through\nTogether such as paperless check deposits and paperless\nbanking.\nNonprofit groups including Mercy Corps, which works with\nvictims of disasters, conflicts and chronic poverty, and the\nNational Wildlife Federation, a conservation group, are also\njoining Together.\nNWF, for instance, hopes to use Together's Web site to draw\nmore people to its Catalog Choice program in which consumers\ncan tell companies not to send product catalogs in the mail,\nsaving transport costs.\n"What we really haven't had is the wherewithal to fully get\nthe word out on some of our programs," NWF education expert\nKevin Coyle said.\nAfter launching Together in America, The Climate Group\nplans to expand the campaign to China, India and Australia.\n(Editing by Michelle Nichols and Cynthia Osterman)\n((timothy.gardner@thomsonreuters.com; 1 646 223-6058,\ntimothy.gardner.reuters.com@reuters.net))\nKeywords: CLIMATE CONSUMERS/