FAQ

We've got answers.

Why do you only focus on carbon?

We realize there are lots of other environmental issues that are important, and sometimes something that reduces your carbon emissions might come at the expense of another important environmental attributes.

In addition to carbon, we keep track of electricity, water, paper, natural gas, fuel oil, gasoline, diesel fuel and other resources. We focus on carbon because climate change is the most important issue facing our civilization. Failure to prevent catastrophic climate change exacerbates all other environmental issues. Thus, it's inextricably interwoven with them. As such, carbon provides an accurate and convenient metric for people to understand their impact on the planet. You can see the other resources you've saved (or expended if there's a negative number!) in the planet tab of your profile.

We also try to avoid advocating any actions or purchases that may harm other parts of the environment. However, there are always tradeoffs and ultimately the impact of an action depends a lot on how you decide to implement it. For example, it is certainly possible to eat fish exclusively from sustainable fisheries if you become a pescetarian.

Why does my friend have some actions or purchases in their reduction center that I do not have?

We try to only recommend actions applicable to your lifestyle. For example, if you haven't told us you have a car in the footprint center, we exclude all car-related actions, such as driving less aggressively or carpooling. Another example is that we exclude actions related to heating equipment if you live in an apartment building, because most of us don't have the power to buy, say, a new high-efficient furnace for the entire building. If you're not getting actions your friends are getting and you'd like to, just shoot us an email, and we'll do all we can to help out.

Why am I not getting any carbon savings from some commitments?

There are a few reasons why commitments may be giving you zero carbon reduction. The most likely cause is that you haven't entered the footprint information needed for the commitments to make a reduction. For example, committing to stop smoking when you haven't entered how much you spend per week on tobacco products would not give you any reductions. Similarly, committing to drive less aggressively when you haven't told us what type of car you drive would also give you no reductions.

The second possibility is that you have maxed out on reductions for a certain portion of your footprint. When we initially calculate your footprint, we assign your carbon emissions to 16 different categories. These categories cannot be reduced below zero carbon in most cases. So if you tell us, for example, that you are installing 1000 CFLs in your home (an obviously unrealistic case), your carbon reductions will be capped by your lighting-related carbon footprint, and any additional lighting-related commitments would give you zero carbon reductions.

How do I change my avatar?

You can change your avatar in the virtual store, accessible either through the virtual store building in your island or in the My World tab. Some avatar features are locked until you reach the required level.

What are the pre-populated numbers in the reduction popups?

The pre-populated numbers are default values that make it easier for you to get accurate estimates without having to spend a lot of time or input a lot of information. Most of these values are personalized behind the scenes using data like the local temperature for your zip code, the amount of incoming solar radiation, precipitation and much more.

How do I get a rainbow in my virtual world?

You can get a rainbow in your world by earning 30,000 points and reaching level 7. Island accessories such as rainbows and space needles can be acquired in the World tab of the virtual store.

Can I join Climate Culture if I live outside the U.S.?

Currently we only support the United States, though we are working on expanding our databases to support Canada. We use regionally specific datasets that include a variety of elements such as types of energy generated, temperatures, incoming solar radiation, energy prices, and other factors down to the the zip-code level to power many of our personalized calculations. Non-US users can feel free to play around with the site by signing up using the zip-code 00000, but they should keep in mind that many of the calculations will not be accurate for their country of residence.