How It Works

Program Overview

Be a Better Planet is a promotion where Yahoo! is looking for the "greenest" city in America. Residents of each U.S. city can earn free compact fluorescent (CFL) light bulbs for themselves, and "green" credits for their city, by performing one of a number of different environmental-themed activities on Yahoo!. At the end of the promotion, Yahoo! will reward the "greenest city" with a fleet of hybrid taxis. The promotion is open to legal U.S. residents of the 50 states & D.C., 13 and older as of entry. All offers in connection with this promotion are open until 6/8/07 at 11:59 PM ET, or while supplies last. A total of 150,000 CFLs are available in this promotion. For "green" credits awarded in connection with Best Answers, provided that supplies have not already been exhausted, all Best Answers must be selected before 6/13/07 at 11:59 PM ET.

The "greenest" city is determined by the cities' participation in the program via Yahoo! Answers, Yahoo! oneSearch™ and Yahoo! Green, and according to the weighting method described below.

To earn "green" credits for your city, and free CFLs for yourself, you must first register for the promotion at http://better.yahoo.com/planet. Once registered, you can take action in any of the following ways:

• Yahoo! Answers:
  Go to Yahoo! Answers and answer questions. For your first Best Answer during the promotion, you will receive a free compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) in the mail within 3-4 weeks. Every Best Answer you get earns credits toward your city's "green" ranking and toward additional CFL bulbs for yourself. Best Answers in the "Environment" category earn 75 "green" credits, while Best Answers in any other category earn 10 "green" credits.
• Yahoo! oneSearch:
  Using your your mobile phone, enter m.yahoo.com into your mobile phone's browser, then search on any one of the five "eco-friendly" terms listed below. For your first oneSearch on any of these terms during the promotion, we will send you a free compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL). In your oneSearch result, you will see a message to click to receive your free CFL. Click that link, enter your Yahoo! ID on the entry page, then we will send you a free CFL in the mail within 3-4 weeks. For each of these searches, you earn 10 credits toward the "green" ranking of your city and toward additional CFL bulbs for yourself. You can receive up to 50 credits per day for searching on these "eco-friendly" mobile search terms during the promotion.
  
  Organic Food
  Public Transport
  Recycle Center
  Bike
  Ride Share
  
  Yahoo! oneSearch is not available on all wireless carriers and devices. Your carrier's normal wireless charges apply. See your wireless plan for details.
• Yahoo! Green:
  From the Be a Better Planet home page, just click "Raise Your Hand" to be taken to the Green Pledge page where you can select the "green" actions you want to incorporate into your daily life. For taking the pledge, we'll send you a free compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL). In addition, taking the pledge earns 100 credits toward the "green" ranking of your city and toward additional CFL bulbs for yourself. You may only take the pledge once in connection with this promotion.

Earn More CFL Bulbs For Yourself

You can earn up to 3 CFL bulbs for yourself just by completing the three activities above. Plus, for every 500 "green" credits you earn based on the above activities before the promotion ends or while supplies last, we will send you another free CFL in the mail within 3-4 weeks.

Each participant's activities will be tabulated on the "Greenest City Map" with all the other participants from their city to show how "green" their city is. The city with the highest "green" ranking, as determined by Yahoo!, will be awarded a fleet of hybrid taxis (up to 10). Should the chosen city be unable or unwilling to accept the taxis, the mayor of the chosen city may select an eco-friendly 501c3 organization to receive a $250,000 donation from Yahoo! to support eco-friendly programs in the city's region.

Calculation of "Greenest City" Ranking

By first registering for the promotion and then completing one of the designated activities, you are earning "green" credits for your city. The more actions you take, the more credits you earn, up to the limits shown. Throughout the day, we will add up the credits for your city - based on the 5-digit zip code you registered with - and will compare those to the population of your city to determine the greenness of your city.

City Eligibility / Weighting

To help ensure fairness among big vs. smaller cities, the following weighting criteria will be used.

All cities with four or more registrants who have each completed at least one designated activity will be eligible to win. Total credits will be weighted against each city's population. City population is based on 2000 census data, as found in the "American FactFinder".

In short, [(Total Credits/Population)*1,000]*Weighting = Your City's "Greenest City" Score

It may take a day or two for credits from the designated activities to appear on the "Greenest City" map and to affect your city's ranking. Please note that even if a particular city is listed as the "Greenest" as of the end of this promotion, the results shown on the map are unofficial and are subject to verification before a winner will be determined. The winning city will be announced on June 25, 2007.

Special Gift for Yahoo! Answers Users

All users who reach level 2 or higher on Yahoo! Answers who have also registered for the promotion will receive a Yahoo! Answers tote bag as a thank you gift just for participating. Please allow six to eight weeks for delivery of gift. You must be level 2 or higher as of June 13, 2007 to receive this gift. Level 1 users can still qualify for the gift by earning enough points to become level 2 before June 13, 2007. To learn more about how Yahoo! Answers awards points, please visit http://answers.yahoo.com/info/scoring_system.

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