So here's a cool idea I came across in GOOD: There's a website called CarbonRally.com where you read about ways to help the environment by cutting CO2 emissions.  Well, that's not such a big deal, since there are about 5 billion websites out there dedicated to helping people help the world.  But Carbon Rally has a cool hook:

It was early in 2007 when we put our heads together and began discussing how we could have an impact on climate change. More than anything, we wanted to combine our knowledge of consumers, software, and environmental studies to find a new approach to the problem. We talked about our personal attempts to reduce global warming, and we quickly realized that we shared a common frustration. The issue seemed just too big for any single person to make a meaningful difference.

We understood the basic links between energy use, CO2 emissions, and climate change. We also knew that we were comfortable in our habits of consumption, and that big changes weren’t going to happen overnight. We needed to identify some realistic steps to rein-in our behavior and make a plan to accomplish them. Still, it would be hard to get excited about our plan without some sort of feedback loop that showed real progress.

And what fun is that?

That’s when we hatched the idea of Carbonrally. We would create a place where many people could discover and commit to small, positive actions over time. People on the site could propose great ideas for reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and the community would choose the best ideas to pursue as a team. We’d track the collective impacts, and show the power of many people getting the job done together. Bit by bit, the community would learn the connections between climate and lifestyle, and rack-up literally tons of carbon benefits along the way. The Internet would make the process surprisingly fun and social… we’d celebrate and we’d compete!

Let's face it, we all want to do what we can to help the planet, but there's nothing like a competition to make something like this fun.  I mean, what's the point of saving the planet if you can't rub it in someone's face?  Or something like that.

Seriously though, it's a pretty good way of making that one lightbulb you change or that one paper cup you save part of something bigger.  And when you can see how your little actions add up, it starts to seem like a doable thing.