The Cool Down

So 👏many 👏myths 👏busted 🤯at Climate Week NYC. If you want more myth busting, follow The Cool Down. They help customers choose products – from electric vehicles to deodorant – for “a cleaner, cooler future.” And Anna Robertson from The Cool Down is just lovely! I had the delight of spending time with Anna on the main stage The Nest Climate Campus where we busted some EV myths and talked about how critical it is to keep breaking down barriers to EV adoption. Some things I shared with the audience (and loved talking with everyone about after the presentation): 📈 GM is now the No. 2 seller of EVs in the US. 🥳 We’ve doubled our sales and market share during the past year, and more than half of our EV buyers are new to GM. ↗️ 🚘 We offer different 14 EV models. Fourteen! 14! Affordable crossovers like the Chevy Equinox EV; luxury SUVs like the Cadillac LYRIQ and Escalade IQ; serious work trucks like the Chevy Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV; and even the electric badassery of the Hummer EV - we’ve got an EV for every budget and lifestyle. ⚡️ The Chevy Bolt is coming back, better than ever! What?!? Yaaassss!!!!We’re keeping what made the original Bolt special, but it’s also reimagined with technologies from our new family of EVs. That means better range, faster charging, and a more refined driving experience. 🐶 With our two dogs and three kids, my family traveled almost 2,500 miles across the Midwest in EVs this summer. Road trips are getting easier by the day as GM EV owners now have access to more than 250,000 public chargers across North America - and more on the way! 🔌 👋🏻 My favorite GM EV mom hacks? Pre-condition the car for heat or cool entry before you get in. Use the frunk for luggage / backpacks / sports gear /instruments so you can use the interior for dogs and snacks, lots of snacks. Use the power outlets in the bed of the Chevy Silverado EV for picnics, tailgates and all-day sporting events. And bask in the ease of the automatic-opening doors feature in the Escalade IQ to just make yourself feel fancy sometimes 🤩. Big thank you again to Anna and our friends at Nest for the chance to talk about this work that I love so much and the vehicles I get so excited about. GM’s vision of a zero-emissions future means our business goals and our sustainability goals are aligned, and profitable EV production is a North Star I’m in for. No doubt, this is a pivotal time for EVs, and we have a lot of hard work ahead of us 💪💪💪But no matter how the market develops, we’re committed to meeting customers where they are with our incredible portfolio. Let’s drive what matters. #climateweeknyc #sustainability #evlife #electricbadassery #sustainablebusiness #iworkforgm

🚀 Brands are still doing the work to be more sustainable and resilient, because it makes good business sense. But at The Cool Down, we’ve watched companies grapple with how to communicate the work that consumers want and investors demand. So this #ClimateWeekNYC, TCD and Zeno Group brought together key leaders across industries for some real talk instead of talking points, collaboration instead of competition, and community building to create confidence, so we can move faster and farther, together. Some key takeaways of our discussion: 🔎 Alison DaSilva from Zeno: The reality is that a large majority of companies are risk-averse right now. They're cautious that what they say could be taken out of context, or that they’ll alienate customers around some of these topics. ▶️ Solution: Take a data-driven, audience-centric approach to communication strategies. Don’t be afraid to speak, but be prepared for potential risks. Prioritize progress over perfection. 🔕 Alexander Habib from L'Oréal: With so many campaigns and slogans and detailed reports on products, the consumer is often left with an off-putting jumble of jargon, even if(!) the products are actually more sustainable. ▶️ Solution: Don’t stop speaking, but say less. Figure out how to simplify your message for the consumer so that it’s immediately understandable and accessible. The art of communication is prioritization. 🐶 Joanne Dwyer from PetSmart: Leading with the sustainability benefits isn't as effective as connecting with customers’ lifestyles: how can brands make it easier to help people make better choices? ▶️ Solution: Illustrate the tangible health benefits of products upfront (improved coat and skin, digestive improvements, good taste etc), and use sustainability (minimally processed, cleaner ingredients) as the follow-up. ✈️ Sanju Luidens with Aruba Tourism Authority: Travelers are looking for sustainable solutions, but they don’t know what works and where to find them. In fact, 73% of travelers say they want to learn how to make a positive impact, but only 23% feel they've been shown how. ▶️ Solution: Create guidelines and actions for visitors to take. For example, Aruba has created the Aruba Promise with easy to achieve actions for guests to follow. It also provides tangible examples of hope and a reason to come back. Thanks to Alison DaSilva Katy Bozich Amanda Perlin (Pryor) for collaborating on another great event, together, and to Charlotte Salley for helping me to rep The Cool Down. #climateweeknyc #communication #sustainability

Our monthly electric bill has been $15-$20 this summer, thanks to ☀️⚡🔋. For the past several years, we've been trying to practice what we preach at The Cool Down, and getting #solar and a backup #battery has been one of the most transformative things we've done. 👏 Here's our backstory: 🏡 When we moved from CA to UT, we bought a house built in the 1990s and did significant renovations, including changes that would create a more climate-friendly home, including adding insulation, upgrading our windows, and improving our electrical panel to accommodate our #EV and increasing #electrification. ☀️ After much research, we also decided to install Tesla Energy panels, which was a significant upfront investment, but we benefited from the solar tax credit, and the savings on our energy costs and not having to buy gas for our cars will help us pay off the initial investment. While our energy bill is super low in the summer, it does go up in the winter when snow covers our panels (though we do have heat tape to help melt the snow as much as possible). 🔋 Shortly thereafter, we opted to get a Tesla Powerwall to store the solar energy we were producing and power our home. That was a game changer. In addition to storing the solar we're producing for days when there isn't as much sun, it's kept our power on when others in the neighborhood lose their power. When a storm is nearby, we get notified in the Tesla app that the Powerwall is preparing. ⚡ We also switched to a heat pump hot water heater, and this week, we're installing heat pumps from Mitsubishi Electric US, Inc. which should make our house much more comfortable. We're always really cold or really hot, so we're excited to see how they perform, especially in a cold weather climate. It's been a process -- and we've learned a lot -- but these changes have saved us money, created a healthier, more comfortable environment, and have had a real impact on the planet. Let me know if you've done the same or would like to hear more about our journey -- what questions do you have? And stay tuned for the #heatpump report... 🤞 Thanks to Danny Wildman for digging in and doing so much of the hard work to make this happen!