What is the purpose of this initiative?
At Planted Society, we aim to create as many opportunities as possible for communities and individuals to feel empowered to make a difference for the planet. And we don’t believe that you should feel like you’re making a big sacrifice every time you make a decision that heals our environment or saves a life. We created Plant Based for the Planet to serve as an positive and exciting opportunity for everyone in a community to gain awareness of our food system’s role in climate change, and become empowered to make small changes that help significantly lower their carbon footprint.
Why do you work with restaurants?
We believe that small businesses are important to every community, regardless of locale or political beliefs – cities everywhere care greatly about preserving and supporting the small businesses in their neighborhoods. To that end, we find that local restaurants are an imperative part of a community’s ethos, and a perfect partner for a food initiative! Dining out is a big part of a city’s culture and often it’s an activity for celebrating milestones, an inspiration for home cooking, and a great opportunity to try new things – exactly what the initiative aims to promote!
How is the community expected to get involved in this initiative?
For the Plant Based for the Planet challenge, we have partnered with several local organizations, city staff, local businesses and influencers to make sure that everyone in Montclair is aware of this important initiative. But once you hear about it, what are you supposed to do? Here are the things we need from community members like you:
Support the restaurants who are taking part in the challenge: Choose from one of our amazing challenge partners and try their plant-based specials. Leave them a positive review. Tag them in a photo on Instagram. Let your friends and family know about their specials!
Support the Initiative: Share Planted Society posts to your Instagram or Facebook stories. Learn about changes you can make to lessen your environmental impact. Ask your favorite restaurants about their plant-based options (it’s not just our partners!)
Finally, VOTE! At the end of the challenge, we will need as many people in Montclair to vote for their favorite challenge restaurant partners. The winner of the challenge will be announced after all votes are cast AND by voting, you’ll be entered to win prizes!
How do I win prizes and vote in the survey at the end of the challenge?
The easiest way you can sign up for voting is to subscribe to our newsletter. It’s there that we will give the most up-to-date info on the initiative and where we will roll out our end-of-challenge survey. The survey contains more than just voting – we will also ask you to tell us your opinions on all things plant-based and give suggestions for future initiatives. We need as many Montclair community members as possible to take the survey, so folks that share it with friends and family on social media will also get more chances to win! Each voter will be entered into a drawing for prizes, plus they will receive extra bonus points for visiting multiple restaurants, PLUS each time they use the hashtag #montclairplanetchallenge on social media – whether it’s a tweet, a photo or a story share, we’ll tally them up and they will earn extra bonus points!
What prizes are you giving away at the end of the challenge?
We will be giving away an array of gift cards to local businesses, plus some free eco-friendly prizes. Most will be something that can be delivered to your house or directly to your email address. We expect to begin notifying winners around the middle to end of April, after we have collected all survey responses. We will reach out via email if your name is chosen and you will have 48 hours to accept!
I don’t live in the location of this initiative. How can I do this where I live?
Please do not hesitate to reach out if you would like to collaborate with Planted Society on a Plant Based for the Planet initiative where you live. All you need are bravery and dedication to the cause – we can help with the rest. Contact Britty Mann, our Executive Director, at britty@plantedsociety.org
