(SALIDA, Colo.) — A grassroots business that encourages people to be aware of their carbon footprint is based in Colorado and is dedicated to building a more sustainable future through its app called, Carbon Kicker.
As part of FOX21’s We Are Chaffee County week, FOX21 News Photojournalist Matthew Putnam met with the founder, Chris Vallier, to learn about the mission behind the campaign.
Courtesy: FOX21 News Photojournalist Matthew Putnam, photo is of Chris Vallier, Founder of Carbon Kicker.
“My elevator pitch would be, we are attempting to help the globe through the use of our app, as well as, help users and businesses in and around our community and other communities,” said Vallier.
Vallier said Carbon Kicker is a way for people to reduce their carbon footprint in meaningful ways.
“How do you do it? Well, we have a variety of different challenges [on our app] that you can accept, from biking to cold wash laundry—each of which has its own respective carbon reduction profile,” he explained.
Courtesy: Carbon Kicker
Once users accept a challenge and if it is related to travel of some sort, for example, Vallier said people will need to share their location via GPS and the app will be able to detect if users are walking or biking. “And, if a [user] bikes or walks, [the app] will be able to record that, and for every kilometer [a user goes], they will receive a token,” he explained.
Tokens received from challenges can then be redeemed at various local businesses; whether it be a coupon or something more substantial.
Courtesy: FOX21 News Photojournalist Matthew Putnam
Vallier, who lives in Chaffee County said, his passion for creating the app stemmed from his love of Salida. “I just love Salida, we are a ski community, and I love skiing,” said Vallier. “We are a bicycling community, we are a river rafting community, and believe it or not, we are becoming a music community as well.”
Courtesy: FOX21 News Photojournalist Matthew Putnam
Vallier described the change in weather patterns over time as one of the main drivers of creating Carbon Kicker. “I just feel powerless to do anything for the environment, and it turns out, the majority of young adults feel powerless too… and that’s where we wanted to change this and make it a rewards-based system,” he explained.
Vallier said that his family also had a big impact on wanting to do something different for the greater good.
“I really would say, it was kind of born from seeing the look on my kid’s face when we’ve had a definite change in the mountains, with the beetle kill, [and] you look at some of the fire issues we’ve had over time and I just wanted to do something meaningful.”
Courtesy: FOX21 News Photojournalist Matthew Putnam
To learn more about Carbon Kicker, visit the link above. Currently, the app is in its soft-launch stages, so challenges are only available in the following communities: Boulder, Colorado Springs, Denver, Fort Collins, Gunnison and Crested Butte, and Salida.
