iQ Cleaners’ New Contest: “Who Cares About This Planet?”

It’s funny when two events collide and spark a “eureka!” moment of sorts. This is what’s happened over the course of the last few weeks for me. The first incident was listening to Thomas Friedman give the keynote speech at Greenbuild in Toronto earlier this month. The second was, well, the announcement of this contest that iQ cleaners is running.

If you’re not familiar with iQ cleaners, you should be. I’ve written about them before and they are now the only cleaners I use. Why? They work, they’re non-toxic and the bottles are reusable and refillable. Refill cartridges use 80% less plastic than buying a new bottle every time. They take up less room in the truck reducing the number of  trucks needed to transport the and they use your own tap water. Imagine how many more cartridges you can ship in place of bottles, and why are we filling containers with water at a plant and paying for the cost of shipping, when we can use our own tap water?

These are the kind of genius ideas that Tom Friedman talked about in his keynote speech at Greenbuild. The gist of his speech was basically that human ingenuity is going to save us because governments can’t give us the true price signals we need to make us alter our consumption patterns.

In that vein, Planet People, the makers of iQ Cleaners, has launched a contest encouraging people to show their smarts when it comes to saving this planet. Under the theme of “Who Cares About This Planet?” anyone with a fabulous and realistic idea to help save the planet can upload a video where they explain what’s so great about it. The panel of judges will pick ten finalists and the rest of the work is up to us. We vote for the best ideas and every vote gives $1 to the finalist. The more votes, the more money that person or team gets, up to $5000.

Here’s what they say on their Facebook page:

Develop an idea that can make a positive environmental impact in your community. This can be in your school, your workplace, your community center or even as big as for your country
• Create a 1-2 minute video that explains your idea and shows your group in action. Be original and creative, then upload it here!
• If you’re chosen as a finalist by our panel of judges, share your video with as many people as you can. Spread the word, and promote your idea to get the most votes.
* The entry with the highest number of votes at the end of the voting period will receive 1$ for every vote it gets!

So, get out there and start thinking about the next great environmental idea that will help get us out of this environmental mess. Yes, it’s a mess too big even for non-toxic cleaners to handle on their own. They need your help, and as Mr. Friedman says, your human ingenuity.

Contest deadline for video submission is November 18th, 2011, at 11:59pm EDT.

So enter now! Contest forms and information on are their Facebook Page.