When a community joins forces with one goal in mind, they are bound to make a difference. We’ve seen the impact of collaborative efforts during the pandemic, in politics, around crowdfunding campaigns, on social media, and more. The driving force behind many of these efforts comes down to technology and its ability to unite people around a cause like no other time in history.
The changes happening now in Earth’s climate are also like no other time in human history. Climate change is an issue affecting everyone, whether they believe the facts or not. From the extreme weather events and the rise in global temperatures to warming oceans and shrinking ice sheets, “Scientific evidence for warming of the climate system is unequivocal.”
The combination of these two unique moments in time provides an opportunity where communities can come together via technology to mitigate the effects of climate change. Just as global warming is already in motion, communal efforts to stop it have also begun.
One example is an app created a few years ago that recently surpassed 300,000 actions completed to help reduce their carbon footprint and engage in the work of ensuring our prosperity on our one and only planet. The app is an innovative, interactive, and ad-free platform created by a global team of volunteers. Earth Hero believes a billion compassionate activists can restore a healthy earth where life can thrive. The global team of volunteers who create the Earth Hero app is motivated to inspire people and their communities to join the global climate movement by offering researched-based information, suggestions for getting involved as climate activists, and the tools and ideas to empower all who want to reduce emissions and care for the shared planet.
How it works
Coming together to make a difference is as simple as downloading the free Earth Hero app. Users begin with a survey of where they currently stand on carbon emissions. After that, they can explore and select from hundreds of actions in the app to begin reducing their carbon footprint. Then, behind the scenes at Earth Hero, passionate volunteers have calculated the carbon emissions modeling for each action. So as each action is marked complete, users see their emissions profile improve. New actions are being researched and added weekly by the content team, and more community features are in the works.
Just as Climate Wise helps to provide solutions to climate change through donations, Earth Hero provides the science-based action steps and solid tips on how to get started, including collections of actions specific to global holidays, resilience, green banking, and everyday life choices.
Conclusion
With 65% of the population having access to the internet and 85% of the world’s population affected by climate change, no one needs to feel alone in their efforts to combat climate change. The actions each of us take are important. Earth Hero dreams of the day their app is no longer needed because so many people around the globe have taken the actions necessary to improve the environmental health of Earth, have built the required resilience to withstand climate disruptions, and secured climate justice for everyone. In the meantime, use this moment in history to come together virtually with 60,000+ app users to restore a healthy planet one action at a time.
