Cork, Ireland – April 22nd 2014.
Carma Carpooling has teamed up with the Earth Day Network to mark this week’s event. For every Carma trip made during the entire week, the Irish-based social technology pioneer will plant a tree to support The Earth Day Networks Canopy Project.
First celebrated in 1970, Earth Day is celebrated in 192 countries each year, promoting support for environmental protection. One of the Earth Day Network’s many missions, The Canopy Project, plants tree to help local communities stave off the effects of land degradation, provide food, energy and income and achieve long-term economic and environmental sustainability.
Headquartered in Cork, Ireland and currently operating in Austin, Texas, San Francisco, California, Cork, Ireland, and Bergan, Norway, Carma Carpooling helps people reach out to their communities to create carpools. The breakthrough app enables its users to cut down on their carbon footprint and share the cost of their journey by promoting an environmentally conscious and affordable commuting solution.
“We read that an average tree produces enough oxygen each year to support two people, so we thought it’d be pretty cool to help our users, and the planet breathe some clean air”, said Content Creator Greg O’Brien.
Greg tells us the idea started off much smaller – to brighten up a location close to the office.
“Initially it was conceived that the Team at Carma would actually go out and plant a tree, but then we realised that even if everyone in the office planted a tree, that wouldn’t result in an enormous number of trees. That’s when we decided to work with the Earth Day Network – by working together and getting our registered users involved, we could have a much greater impact.
Austin carpoolers were able to benefit local sustainability initiatives as well with their carpools. The Austin Carma program pledged to donate $1 to local non-profit EcoRise Youth Innovations on behalf of every carpool trip during Earth Week. Carma raised $272 to donate to EcoRise, which will go towards programs that improve sustainability education in local schools. “We’ve been so inspired by the carpooling activity here in Austin, and the impact that our members have had on reducing CO2 emissions and traffic, that we wanted to pass that green inspiration on,” said Lauren Albright, Community Manager. “EcoRise is a wonderful program that inspires and challenge youth to take on real-world sustainability and social innovation challenges, and we are thrilled to be able to support them on behalf of our members this week.”
Carma is keeping track of the number of user trips taken during Earth Week, but there is already a small forest worth of trees already and that’s a lot of clean air.
About Carma
Founded in 2007 and formally known as Avego, Carma is a world-leading company in real-time carpooling technology, enabling people to team up to improve their commute.
Headquartered in Cork, Ireland with offices in San Jose, CA and Austin, TX, Carma’s customers include cities, governments, public transport operators and tens of thousands of individual customers and private transport operators.
For more information visit www.carmacarpool.com or download the Carma Carpooling App.