Prachi Shevgaonkar, is the 26-year-old founder and CEO, Cool the Globe, an app for climate action. A media student-turned climate activist, Prachi is now an entrepreneur, an advisor to the Tata Power Company, a UNICEF climate advocate and a TedEx speaker. She tells how her attempts to reduce her personal carbon footprint became a movement
Finding her calling
“When we consider
energy saving or reducing carbon footprint, the first step we probably think of
is ‘switching off the light bulb’. But I wanted to take stock of the different
ways -- from the time I wake up to the time I sleep – in which I could reduce carbon emissions,” says Prachi.
“It could be as simple as taking a cold water shower, or installing solar panels to heat water. I realised that I reduced 14 kg emission after a month of cold water baths. In college, I requested to increase the AC temperature
by one or two degree Celsius. That reduced 12 kg emission in a month. Segregating
waste at home saved about 4kg emission, cutting down on buying new clothes and
reusing my sister’s stuff saved about 10 kg emissions per hour!,” she says. “Key high emission areas included the materials that we use, the
things we buy and food choices we make.”
Building a community
“In the beginning, we had to learn by ourselves about app design, storyboarding etc. We
put in about 1000 hours of research to study climate change. One of the first
experts to help us was Ben Banerjee, an impact investor based in Switzerland.
He watched a video that my friends and I had made. More people reached out with
feedback when the first version of the app was launched,” says Prachi.
The global meter on the homepage of Cool the Globe
app, for instance, was introduced based on the feedback from a fifth grader. He
told Prachi, ‘I have used the app and I have reduced my emission, but what
difference I alone can make?’
“We then decided to put the global meter on the app’s
home page that shows the collective emissions saved by all the users. We
reached out to many people who helped without any expectation at a very early
stage. I think that’s why Cool the Globe has become a movement for climate
action,” says the Pune resident.
At present there are users from 110 plus countries,
with India topping the list, followed by USA and Europe. However, the challenge
lies in convincing those people who are aware of the climate change, but do not
want to act on it.
“Our first wave of supporters came from people who
watched our videos and wanted to spread the word in their community. They
became the ambassadors of Cool the Globe. As a part of ground work, I visit
four schools, colleges, communities every month to raise awareness about the
subject,” the entrepreneur explains.
Setting a target
The default target of the app user is 10 per cent,
which in turn, is based on the average per capita carbon footprint of the
country s/he is based in.
“The users can set in their monthly or annual
target. Besides, the app has a collective target feature; we have issued a challenge
for our users to save 300 tonnes of emission before the Earth Day (April 22,
2024),” explains Prachi.
The movement is now focusing
on recruiting organisations rather than individuals. “The app has a feature for organisations,
wherein the employees can join with their employee code. We need individual
action coupled with organisational and governmental action.”
Urban v/s Rural
Initially, Prachi did not expect the rural
demographic to make use of the app. But the calls that she gets everyday
include people from the rural areas, most of them farmers and students based in
Tier-III cities.
“We are surprised and pleased at the app’s reach in
rural areas. In urban section, we have to make people aware of the climate
change, but the rural section is already leading a sustainable life. The idea
is to hold them up as examples to our other users,” she points out.
The mission is to bring citizens together, to gain
from each other, to grow with each other.
(This article was first written for Amritabharati/SchoolLive)
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