Chicago (IL) - There are countless websites that enable people around the world to jump online and calculate the negative impact in which they are affecting the environment and what they can do as an individual to reduce their footprint. Carbonrally.com is different: The site offers its users a social networking platform that combines online networking and online gaming to deliver a competition that works to benefit the environment and reduce each individual’s carbon footprint. Rather than pointing its finger and focusing on the bad things you do, the site focuses on the positives and what you could do to improve.

If you have been looking for ways to paint your lifestyle green, but simply haven’t found ways how to do it, Carbonrally.com may be worth a look. CEO Jason Karas describes the site as “a place where a user can go to identify small lifestyle changes that reduce their carbon footprint”.

Carbonrally functions by offering users time-bound challenges, such as hanging laundry out to dry for a month, turning off your computer at night, or not drinking bottled water. The creators of the site have completed the math behind each specific action in an attempt to determine what the carbon reduction would be per challenge and each individual’s CO2 reduction is displayed and calculated for them.
Utilizing their own CO2 numbers, individuals can choose to either join a team and compete, or reduce their carbon footprint individually. Currently, half of the user base never joins a team.

The social networking aspect of the website is different than what you may be used to. Carbonrally allows users to share lifestyle tips and concepts that create a greener world. It is very topic-focused website, but most of the users describe in their profiles other worldly contributions: They not only discuss their green attributes, but also their volunteer work and animal activism. Carbonrally.com has a “workshop” that enables users to create challenges and then vote for the best ones to actually make it as a featured challenge. Clearly, the site would not be possible without the community and its interaction.

Jason Karas said that interested users who would like to get an overview of the site should explore individuals and teams in their area, search the site for their high school, college or any other social elements in your life, explore challenges and experiment with them.

The environmental benefit of Carbonrally.com is significant, if we believe the numbers stated by the website: 7344 rallyers are currently utilizing the site and claim to have reduced their CO2 footprint by 483 tons.

Sure, it might reduce carbon...

Aug 14, 2008 08:52     

...but what about the toxic levels of smug on that website? :p
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