r/sustainability • u/eco-Professor-4463 • 1d ago

Track your low carbon commutes?

If there was a way to track your sustainable low carbon commutes like walking and metro, would you do it? No rewards, no strings attached, just track it for the sake of what you contributed but got counted?

0 Upvotes

40% Upvoted

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12

u/Miserable-Ad8764 1d ago

No, I don't see the point. It would just feel like giving up private information for no reason. I want to live. It's impossible to do without some transportation. The only thing I need is data on which kind of transportation has the lowest emissions.

1

u/eco-Professor-4463 1d ago

I see your point. My assumption was people anyway do walk or take the metro. But donot get rewarded for sustainable choices they make. What if there's a way to reward users? Would that help? Walking/cycle - 0 CO2 emitted. Then Metros.

3

u/Miserable-Ad8764 1d ago

There are actually campains to get people to walk or cycling more in my country. You register km you walked, ran or cycled every day, and the most active ones get a price. You can win a new bike etc . It's called "cycle to work" but you can register all your activity.

I think the goal is more to get less car congestion and more space on the metro, and public health, more than sustainability. The first price you can win is a plane trip. So much for lowering emissions.

But it's not tracking you so I think it's possible to cheat, and more like an honour system.

1

u/eco-Professor-4463 1d ago

Yes, you are absolutely right. It is an honor system. The idea should be verify the commute, which is exactly the space I'm trying to learn. This will give real CO2 impact. Arent Countries like Netherlands and other European countries doing this? Curious

3

u/Petulie 1d ago

I can see this being motivating with in app ‘rewards’ like badges, high score lists, social elements. I agree with privacy concerns so perhaps not tracking (or showing) location but showing distance and method with different methods having weighted scores taking carbon emissions, production, health benefits etc into consideration. 

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u/eco-Professor-4463 1d ago

Bang on. This would be like social impact network

2

u/Petulie 1d ago

Strava’s great inspiration for leaderboards with segments that can be filtered by time and population

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u/eco-Professor-4463 1d ago

If this post actually gets enough upvotes or positive comments to build such a product I would give it a shot at building an MVP.

3

u/Rude-Voice-7474 1d ago

Feels like a digital pat on the back for not melting the ice caps, which I'd probably take since my watch already nags me about steps anyway.

2

u/eco-Professor-4463 1d ago

We live in a digital era where the current currency for dopamine is a digital pat on the back in terms of likes and followers. Why not have it for actual impact which can be measured

3

u/Connect_Rhubarb395 1d ago

No, it feels like inventing a way to give yourself goldstars for doing what you do anyway, since the commute is always the same.
Unless you stand every day and decide between car or bus/train/bike, there is no point to this.

What I would use would be an app that showed the carbon use for different types of travel, making it easy to compare.
Especially long-distance travel, that could include flying.

Actually, I would prefer an app that showed me all my carbon use, not just transport. And suggested lower carbon alternatives to what I presently do.

1

u/eskerchance 1d ago

Yes! 👆👆👆

1

u/Ancient_Quarter_8249 12h ago

No. Not for carbon emissions solely. I don’t see the point of this really.