Raising Eco-Awareness

​Denver will now pay residents who commute on bikes to meet the city’s climate goals. Participants can receive mile reimbursement and training and coaching stipends to encourage biking over driving and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The program comes as a response to the city’s lagging climate goals. According to Denver Streets Partnership, transportation was responsible for 30% of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2018, and this incentive is part of a larger research project to see what motivates locals to ditch their cars.

Your Task:

1. What ideas do you have for incentivizing people to make changes to their daily lives that might lessen their environmental footprint? For example, this might include incentivizing people to use non-motorized transportation for commuting to school and work, encouraging the use of reusable drinkware, or offering free trees for planting.

2. Pitch your idea to a local business, organization, or even your school community to support. For example: send a letter asking a nursery to donate trees to people; write a letter to families at your school encouraging everyone to use their own coffee mugs when buying coffee at a cafe; or plan a school contest to see who can walk/bike/scooter to school the most days in a row.

3. Come up with your own idea and share it in a letter.