THE TON was prominent on Cross Campus at Yale University. Hundreds of students, faculty, administrators, and visitors to the campus on the glorious spring day gazed at THE TON. At least half took photos to share. EcoMotion staff in black team t-shirts “worked the crowd.”

“THE TON is a magnet. It creates teachable moments,” said EcoMotion’s Sustainability Planner, Jordan Garbayo. THE TON is a conversation starter: “Do you know how many tons of greenhouse gases each of us is responsible for each year?” For others, “Do you have any stress in your life?” The EcoMotion team hands out stress balls in the form of THE TON to start conversations which then focus on the individual and what he or she can do easily to chip in.

Lisa Fernandez, Associate Director of the Yale Center for Climate Change Communication, wrote that, “The evening of the day you were here I presented to a local group of environmental activists/conservationists and used a picture of your “ton of CO2” as it bobbled in front of Yale’s Sterling Memorial Library…. It’s truly a stunning visual and brings home what it means.”

“This is the last stop on the New England SAVE A TON Tour and a great thrill. Yale produces world leaders; it is a leader in climate change communications; so we are delighted to partner in this form of messaging for the campus community,” said EcoMotion President, Ted Flanigan.

The Tour touched thousands of students on six campuses in ten days. These in turn, have shared their images of THE TON with others through social media, multiplying its reach to tens if not hundreds of thousands. THE TON was featured on Brown University’s home page. Many students signed SAVE A TON pledges to reduce their footprint through simple steps.

The Tour’s first stop was the University of Colorado. Next stop was Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. The tour moved to Millbrook School in New York, then Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, Middlesex Community College (Massachusetts), before wrapping up at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

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The SAVE A TON campaign was developed by EcoMotion, an environmental consultancy with the mission of “the cost-effective greening of cities, corporations, and campuses.” Based in California and Massachusetts, EcoMotion is rooted in “the power of the increment,” a corporate philosophy encouraging small actions by the masses to create huge effects. Saving a ton requires a commitment to trim energy use, driving, and material consumption.

EcoMotion has developed tools to help cities, corporations, and campuses go green and cut costs while mitigating climate change. For cities, EcoMotion prepares Greenhouse Gas Inventories and Climate Action Plans. A workbook developed by EcoMotion presents 440 ways for cities to cut carbon, ranked by savings and costs. For corporations, EcoMotion specializes in energy assessments and solar financial analysis and project management. For campuses, EcoMotion galvanizes student actions; develops campus policies and curriculum; and focuses on facility operations to cut costs and the campus footprint.