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All New Holiday Adventure Awaits Families at
The North Pole Experience, Opening this Winter

GREER, Ariz. (October 23, 2009) – Never in the history of the world have children been allowed into Santa’s Workshop– until now.  In fact, nine very lucky Arizona families will be awarded a key to Santa’s Workshop by Santa himself at a special Breakfast with Santa on Saturday, November 7 from 9 to 11 a.m. at Stuffington Bear Factory in Phoenix. Opening this winter, The North Pole Experience (www.northpoleexperience.com) gives children and their parents, unprecedented behind-the-scenes access to Santa’s Workshop– via the quaint White Mountain ski/summer village of Greer, Ariz. 

The special Breakfast with Santa event will offer a light continental breakfast and is free and open to the public.  Santa, Mrs. Claus and the elves will visit with guests and welcome family photo opportunities.

Each of the nine Arizona families to be recognized at the event were selected from among the many that answered Santa’s call for help when his reindeer went missing during his vacation in Ariz. this summer. Using the clues posted by Santa’s ELF CSI Unit at www.northpoleexperience.com, each family found one or more of the reindeer located throughout Arizona. 

The winning families are: the Lock family of Phoenix, the Currell family of Show Low, the Hymes family of Phoenix, the Hilton family of Prescott, the Naughton family of Tucson, the Oransky-Betancourt family of Gilbert, the MacAluso family of Phoenix, the Bienz family of Mesa, and the Hazzard family of Mesa.

Following the Breakfast with Santa event, Santa and crew will be heading up to Greer to put finishing touches on his 5,000-square-foot workshop there, which features the elves’ toy factory with a floor-to-ceiling fireplace, Santa’s office and state-of-the-art “Naughty or Nice Surveillance” system, and Mrs. Claus’ bakery. 

 When the Workshop opens this winter, visitors to The North Pole Experience will roll up their sleeves to make special toys with the help of Santa and his elves.  After the “work” is done, children will receive a golden key to the Workshop from Santa himself and the adventure will then continue with a peek at Santa’s office, toy museum and the elves’ quarters, followed by cookies and milk and storytelling with Mrs. Claus.

 Greer, Ariz. is located 12 miles from Sunrise Ski Park in the White Mountains.  Admission to The North Pole Experience for adults is $74 and $62 for children (12 and under) and includes a hearty dinner at the historic, award-winning Molly Butler Lodge Restaurant. Overnight cabin packages, which start at $440 for a family of four, include admission to The North Pole Experience, dinner and breakfast at Molly Butler Lodge Restaurant and accommodations at one of Molly’s charming woodland cabins.  Molly’s cabins are situated on large private lots and range in size– sleeping families of four to large family groups of up to 16. 

 The reservation line is 1-888-NPX-SANTA.  For more information, visit www.northpoleexperience.com.

Mesa, Ariz., October 20, 2009 - Clean Air Cab, Arizona’s most environmentally friendly taxicab service, today announced the launch of the very first carbon neutral taxicab service in the state of Arizona. While a Washington D.C. taxicab service was the first in the Nation to have an all green taxi fleet last year, Arizona’s Clean Air Cab is the first all green fleet in Arizona and the Southwest, and will be serving the entire Phoenix Metropolitan area.

While many consumers expect to pay more for green alternatives that benefit the planet, Clean Air Cab rates are slightly less than their competitors.

According to Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, “Phoenix is committed to becoming the first carbon neutral city in the nation. “We have been leaders on sustainability issues for decades and value responsible investments like this one to help us be the best stewards we can be.”

The fleet is composed of 100 percent hybrid vehicles.  The Ford Crown Victoria’s traditionally used by cab companies releases approximately 160% more emissions than the hybrid vehicles used by Clean Air Cab. Clean Air Cab purchases carbon credits to offset their emissions, then goes the extra mile in pursuit of a negative carbon footprint by subsidizing the planting of trees in Brazil rain forests. There is no other cab service in the state that is fully carbon neutral or negative. The company intends to plant 10 trees each month for every cab in service, and has already planted 260 for the month of October.   

“We believe that going green isn’t something you do – it is something you are,” said Steve Lopez, Founder of Clean Air Cab. “Our intention is to take the trendy out of ‘going green’ and deliver a product that allows consumers to be green just by participating.”

Clean Air Cab is opening their hybrid doors to the public on October 20^th, 2009 with 26 cabs and plans to grow their fleet to 200+ cabs. It is estimated that a fleet of 26 traditional taxis would produce approximately 1800 tons of greenhouse gases per year. Clean Air Cab’s fleet of 26 taxis will not produce any [tons of greenhouse gas].

Consumers can book a Clean Air Cab taxi online at www.CleanAirCab.com or by calling 480.777.9777. Service is offered Valley-wide.

What does it mean to be “carbon neutral” and “carbon negative?”

According to Wikipedia, being carbon neutral refers to achieving net zero carbon emissions by balancing a measured amount of carbon released with an equivalent amount sequestered or offset. Many companies and individuals purchase carbon offsets to diminish their own greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, electricity use, and other sources. With the current trend for companies to become carbon neutral, there is now an emerging trend for some organizations to go beyond this in their sustainability efforts and become carbon negative by offsetting more than 100% of their carbon emissions.