The Ugly Lawn Challenge

Dear govenor Newsom,

Just like California our Swedish island Gotland has a chronic problem with drought and water scarcity. Saving water is a constant priority.

Last summer, our campaign “Gotland’s Ugliest Lawn” celebrated lawn owners who conserved water during drought by not watering their lawns, resulting, together with other water saving initiatives, in a 5% reduction in water consumption on the island. Without any media spend, the initiative reached a staggering 788 million people – many of them were Californians who wished for a similar competition in their communities.

Now, we’re launching the Ugly Lawn Challenge globally, aiming to inspire even drier and uglier lawns.

To kickstart the challenge, we are planning to record a Zoom call between an influential person and last year’s winner – and regular Gotlander – Marcus Norström. 

We are planning to start the challenge in the beginning of August. With your long-standing engagement in environmental and water-related issues we could make a global impact together, and save a lot of water in California.

Mimmi Gibson
Director of Brand, Region Gotland, Sweden
mimmi.gibson@gotland.se
+46 70 083 22 99