Monday December 5, 2016

How Manulife’s Vitality program can reduce CO2 emissions while encouraging healthy choices

Think about your health and the environment. How are they connected? We intuitively know that polluted air is bad for us. But what if the same things that are bad for our health are also bad for the environment? Every day we make simple choices – should I drive? What’s for lunch? – and these decisions have big consequences when you look at trends across whole populations. But how can people get motivated to change their routines?

A new program called Manulife Vitality is encouraging people to do just that (Full disclosure: Manulife chooses Bullfrog Power’s green electricity for its ABMs, global HQ and more). The program has the potential to make a positive contribution to Canadians’ health and our environment. Here’s how it works:

After you purchase Manulife Vitality term life insurance and register for the program, you’ll then get a customized, goal-oriented program to encourage and inspire healthier choices, simple tips to help you reach them, and convenient, easy-to-use tools, including a free wearable device to keep track of your healthy activities.

You can start accumulating Vitality Points™ for routine activities you may already be doing to stay healthy: walking, exercising and getting regular physical check-ups. The more points you earn, the more opportunity you have to reach a higher Vitality Status™ and earn rewards.

For those who are environmentally-inclined, there is an intriguing crossover between healthy personal activities and the health of the planet. Consider transportation and healthy eating:

1. TransportationThe health benefits of walking or cycling instead of driving aren’t hard to understand. We all could probably use more exercise. But did you know that transportation is responsible for more than a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions in North America? When you walk more and drive less, you are also helping to contribute to cleaner air by causing less greenhouse gases to be released into the atmosphere.
   
   
2. Heathy eating
   
   The impacts of growing food and raising farm animals is now well understood in terms of water and land use and the resulting greenhouse gas emissions. For those looking to eat healthier, moderation can go a long way. However, according to a study conducted by the University of Oxford, adopting a plant-based diet can produce 11 times fewer greenhouse gases and require 160 times less land.

At Bullfrog Power, we believe in the power of individuals to make a difference. But we also know that it can be hard to draw those connections between our own actions and global-scale problems.

As Chris Ouellette, Head of Corporate Citizenship and Manulife, explains, “Manulife Vitality was developed to incentivize healthy living and if that translates into Manulife customers living more sustainable lifestyles, that’s an additional benefit to the program.”

The Manulife Vitality program is a new way to save money and live a healthier lifestyle for both yourself and the planet. To find out if the program is right for you, check out Manulife.ca/vitality