Posted By AltaTerra Editor,
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Leilani Münter, self-proclaimed ‘Carbon Free Girl’, is not afraid of a challenge. In addition to being one of the top-ranked women in motor
sports, Leilani has taken a leadership position in promoting green products and
behaviors to the auto racing community. Her improbable pairing of auto racing
and carbon-free messaging has sparked a wide range of reactions from racing
fans and environmentalists. We like this story, because it pushes the envelope
in terms of marketing and outreach. And in a larger sense, it’s a parable about
green leadership in the mainstream, and the power of a unique and authentic
message.
Leilani’s interest in the environment has
roots. She has a Bachelors degree in Biology from the University of California
San Diego. She is a vegetarian and an eco activist; she serves as an Ambassador
of the National Wildlife Federation, and has made several visits to Capitol
Hill to speak with members of Congress on behalf of clean energy and climate
change legislation. Since 2007, Leilani has adopted an acre of rainforest for
every race she enters.
Leilani started racing in 2001, and in 2004, became the fourth woman in history
to race in the Indy Pro Series, the development league of IndyCar. In 2006, she
set the record for the highest finish for a female driver in the history of
Texas Motor Speedway when she finished fourth. According to Sports Illustrated,
she ranks as one of the top ten female race car drivers in the world. She is currently pursuing her
stock car career with the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA), and hopes
to move into the NASCAR Nationwide Series in 2011.
So how did she bring her two distinctly different interests
together? In 2006, Leilani began to gather eco-business sponsorships, driving
in the Indy Lights series with the support of Smart Papers, a maker of paper
from recycled and waste paper materials. In 2008, she ran a hydrogen cell-powered Ford Focus in the Viking Rally
for zero-emissions hydrogen and electric cars in Norway. All of the ads on her
Carbon Free Girl website are for green products or services. Her environmental messaging is edgy and
personalized, peppered with slogans such as "just because you’re green doesn’t
mean you can’t be fast" and "life is short – race hard, live green."
In a recent interview on greenbaypressgazette.com,
Leilani explained how, in 2006, she realized she wanted to tell race fans and
others about her environmental concerns, and what the fans could do to help.
"…it started a dialogue in the racing community. If you're an
environmentalist, you need to reach out to people who don't agree with you,"
she said. The ‘dialogue’ started in a fan forum on NASCAR's website. Leilani described some
of the comments posted to the forum as ‘nasty’, "but other people chimed in and
supported me," she continued. "It actually got to the point where they were
posting graphs (showing environmental statistics) on the site. That's when I
had that moment where I said, 'Man, I got them talking about climate change on
a NASCAR forum.' It made me realize I can have a purpose, to talk about
environmental issues to a group that normally doesn't talk about them."
As Leilani says, "one in every three people in America
is a race fan -- that's about 100 million." The way she sees it, "if I
even get 10 percent of them to not use plastic at the grocery store, that's
better. They can do something easy, not hard, and that'll help. I can show them
composting is cool, recycling is cool, and I hope that some of them will join
me."
And, she is drawing an audience. In a recent blog post,
Bill Zahren notes, "As green awareness has risen in the US, more companies are
interested in using racing (an inherently non-green activity) to reach a wider
audience. And Münter's ‘carbon free girl’ image has her in pole position to
represent those companies."
Thomas H. Rawls, Vice President, Sales and Marketing for NativeEnergy, aptly defended his company sponsoring a driver in such a
high CO2 producing sport in a blog post titled ‘Have I
Lost My Mind?’ Rawls notes, "If we only address those who already agree with us,
nothing changes. And if we work only with people who already believe in what we
do, who is going to change the minds of those who don’t? Leilani Münter is a
proven and committed environmental advocate. That has been demonstrated beyond
a doubt…. Leilani is also a race car driver, and racing leaves an oversized
carbon footprint. So there’s a contradiction. And in that contradiction lies
the opportunity: To reach some 75 million individuals who are avid racing fans.
My guess is that a fair share of them are not troubling themselves about global
warming. That is why we decided that it makes perfect sense to support Leilani
and her mission."
So
where is this all heading? Will ‘green’ really become a factor in auto racing? It
could, but the performance bar will be high. Leilani is
now working to form the ‘Eco Dream Team,’ a group of sponsoring companies
looking to collaborate on bringing sustainability more broadly to racing
technology, racing events, and the racing audience. Leilani’s current sponsors
include: GREENandSAVE,
NativeEnergy, groSolar, LED
Saving Solutions, Eco Academy, Home Efficiency Report, National Wildlife Federation, and HuntGreen LLC. Leilani is partnering
with LED Saving Solutions to promote more efficient lighting. Here’s how she described
the partnership in an interview with Planet Green: "… a ground breaking program that can provide lighting upgrades with
light emitting diode (LED) lights that reduce electricity demand by up to 80
percent, allowing a business or property owner to reduce costs immediately as
well as a means to reduce a facility's carbon footprint. The partnership offers
companies of all sizes a tremendous opportunity to save money, go green, and
become sponsor on my race car -- all without spending a dime."
With her ‘Eco Dream Team,’ Leilani hopes "to send a powerful message. A message that says, we know we are not perfect but
we are going to do everything we can to make the world a better place. And with
each step we take, we get closer to a better tomorrow. A tomorrow where green
technology can power race cars to 225 mph. A message that says together we can
change the world." We sure hope she succeeds.
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