Looking for a"green" drink in Hanoi? A network of restaurants and cafeshas been set up in Hanoi to offer small gifts or discounts to customersriding any kind of bicycle.
Just hop on your bicycle and pedal straight to your favorite "green destination" right away.
Working to promote a return to cycling in the city - Green Destination- a Hanoi-based group of environmental campaigners is promoting thehealthy mode of transport by linking up a chain of cafes and restaurantsin hopes of encouraging a greener city.
"Our goalis to develop the habit of riding bicycles and to encourage people togive up on motorbikes", said Le Kim Huong, leader of the group.
All for a healthy city like it used to be in days - not so far - goneby. According to statistics from the Ministry of Transport in 2012, 70percent of air pollution in Hanoi came from transportation, especiallymotorbikes.
Huong, a new graduate from HanoiUniversity, came up with the idea of the food chain from anenvironmental contest as part of a programme in Japan called Denso Youthfor Earth Action. Her idea turned out to be brilliant enough to win herthe first prize.
"I realised traditional media wasnot good enough. If we could pull together businesses to work togetherwith the community, the effects would be much stronger," Huong said.
The Green Destination network is the realisation ofher savvy ecological business and marketing idea. From just threemembers at the beginning, the group now has about 50 volunteers, mostlyuniversity students working part-time, and 10 active members.
"It was very hard at first. We knocked on as many doors as we could,day after day, but all we got back was a "No". Most owners fearedjoining the campaign would drag down their revenue, others thought wewere just doing a marketing job."
"Many of our original volunteers became discouraged and disappointed, then quit," Huong said.
Fortunately, they were not alone in their passion to improve thecity's air quality. Guim Valls Teruel, a Spanish man cycling around theworld, and many other young Asian environment activists lent them ahelping hand to bring it all together.
The Spanish traveller found out about the campaign and contacted Huong to offer support.
"He enthusiastically shared his experiences in media activities and organising press conferences with us," Huong said.
"There was also a Filipino designer who created the logo for thegroup, which helped a lot when we were introducing our campaign."
Three months later, it was a success story. Huong and her partners hadset up a network of nearly 60 restaurants and cafes - and counting -who are committed to the campaign.
Her campaign was so well received that some stores now even call her up to ask if they could be a part of the network.
"Our customers, mostly foreigners, are very happy when they areoffered 10 percent off the bill," Tran Ngoc Linh, a staffer at JomaBakery Cafe in To Ngoc Van Street, said.
She also revealed that there were times when the total number of bicycles climbed up to 150 in a day.
"I was quite surprised when first hearing the offer. I think this ideais brilliant. It encourages people that already travel by bike, andinspires other people to go green as well", said Franziska Lessmann, aGerman customer at the cafe.
Following the success,Green Destination laid out another three-month campaign in August named"Non-emitting vehicle" in which they reached out as far as the centralcoastal city of Da Nang.
"We aimed at connecting 300 restaurants and cafes in Hanoi and another 50 in Da Nang".
Electric bicycles, which have become popular among youth in big cities, are also a part of the campaign.
"I was amazed when I found out that riding electric bike could get me adiscount. Maybe I should go home and throw my motorbike out rightaway," enthused Pham Hong Anh, a customer at Porevol cafe in Tran HungDao street.
At the moment, Green Destination is preparing for another campaign scheduled for the first months of 2014.
Apart from expanding their trademarked network, Huong and her membersplan to promote media activities by recruiting volunteers andestablishing a presence at universities around Hanoi.
A full list of cafes and discounts can be found on the group's website: greendestination.org.-VNA
Just hop on your bicycle and pedal straight to your favorite "green destination" right away.
Working to promote a return to cycling in the city - Green Destination- a Hanoi-based group of environmental campaigners is promoting thehealthy mode of transport by linking up a chain of cafes and restaurantsin hopes of encouraging a greener city.
"Our goalis to develop the habit of riding bicycles and to encourage people togive up on motorbikes", said Le Kim Huong, leader of the group.
All for a healthy city like it used to be in days - not so far - goneby. According to statistics from the Ministry of Transport in 2012, 70percent of air pollution in Hanoi came from transportation, especiallymotorbikes.
Huong, a new graduate from HanoiUniversity, came up with the idea of the food chain from anenvironmental contest as part of a programme in Japan called Denso Youthfor Earth Action. Her idea turned out to be brilliant enough to win herthe first prize.
"I realised traditional media wasnot good enough. If we could pull together businesses to work togetherwith the community, the effects would be much stronger," Huong said.
The Green Destination network is the realisation ofher savvy ecological business and marketing idea. From just threemembers at the beginning, the group now has about 50 volunteers, mostlyuniversity students working part-time, and 10 active members.
"It was very hard at first. We knocked on as many doors as we could,day after day, but all we got back was a "No". Most owners fearedjoining the campaign would drag down their revenue, others thought wewere just doing a marketing job."
"Many of our original volunteers became discouraged and disappointed, then quit," Huong said.
Fortunately, they were not alone in their passion to improve thecity's air quality. Guim Valls Teruel, a Spanish man cycling around theworld, and many other young Asian environment activists lent them ahelping hand to bring it all together.
The Spanish traveller found out about the campaign and contacted Huong to offer support.
"He enthusiastically shared his experiences in media activities and organising press conferences with us," Huong said.
"There was also a Filipino designer who created the logo for thegroup, which helped a lot when we were introducing our campaign."
Three months later, it was a success story. Huong and her partners hadset up a network of nearly 60 restaurants and cafes - and counting -who are committed to the campaign.
Her campaign was so well received that some stores now even call her up to ask if they could be a part of the network.
"Our customers, mostly foreigners, are very happy when they areoffered 10 percent off the bill," Tran Ngoc Linh, a staffer at JomaBakery Cafe in To Ngoc Van Street, said.
She also revealed that there were times when the total number of bicycles climbed up to 150 in a day.
"I was quite surprised when first hearing the offer. I think this ideais brilliant. It encourages people that already travel by bike, andinspires other people to go green as well", said Franziska Lessmann, aGerman customer at the cafe.
Following the success,Green Destination laid out another three-month campaign in August named"Non-emitting vehicle" in which they reached out as far as the centralcoastal city of Da Nang.
"We aimed at connecting 300 restaurants and cafes in Hanoi and another 50 in Da Nang".
Electric bicycles, which have become popular among youth in big cities, are also a part of the campaign.
"I was amazed when I found out that riding electric bike could get me adiscount. Maybe I should go home and throw my motorbike out rightaway," enthused Pham Hong Anh, a customer at Porevol cafe in Tran HungDao street.
At the moment, Green Destination is preparing for another campaign scheduled for the first months of 2014.
Apart from expanding their trademarked network, Huong and her membersplan to promote media activities by recruiting volunteers andestablishing a presence at universities around Hanoi.
A full list of cafes and discounts can be found on the group's website: greendestination.org.-VNA
