PORTLAND, Ore. -- A Portland nonprofit hopes the recent record breaking heat will get people thinking about our climate.
The group is launching a new smart phone app to help fight climate change. It's called YourEarth.
Right now it's just prototype. The goal of the app is to cut carbon emissions not by guilting people into changing their behavior, but by rewarding them.
Portland psychologist Tricia Zigrang co-founded the nonprofit that is launching the app. She says, if there's one thing she understands, it's people's behavior.
"We want to give people rewards immediately because if you do that you are more likely to get people to change their behavior and keep their behavior different," Zingrang explained.
The app works by offering users a number of carbon reducing actions they can choose from every day. Those actions include things like recycling or riding public transportation.
The user then posts a picture of themselves doing that activity.
In turn, they earn points they can use to buy a variety of eco-friendly goods and services.
“We wanted to create a solution that would actually get people to take action, because a lot of people don’t know what to do to take action,” said co-founder Marques Alexander.
The nonprofit is launching a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for the app.
The campaign starts this Friday, which is Earth Day. It's goal is to raise $50,000.