You can help Arlington County reach its goal of being carbon neutral by 2050, all from your phone.
Enter:the GetGreen Arlington app. The county launched the app in late January with the help of environmental education nonprofit EcoAction Arlington to empower residents to take incremental climate action through attainable and engaging challenges.
How does it work?
Once you input your information and set goals for areas of your life you’d like to make greener (like on the job, during transportation and travel, or while dining at local bars or restaurants), you’re met with recommended actions.
Each completed task earns leaves, and each leaf quantifies your energy-saving practices. For example, one leaf is equivalent to emissions from manufacturing 30 single-use coffee cups.
And why not make it a friendly competition? All of your earned leaves are tracked in the GetGreen Arlington Community Team leaderboard — see if you can earn a top spot on the list of supporters as you help bring the county to its goal of 3,000 leaves.
Start small and earn leaves through actions like toting reusable shopping bags for a week— or opt for a more involved challenge, like using Arlington County’s lending library for tools or attending a local farmers market. Bonus: The app also gives you actionable advice on participating in many of the county’s green programs, like the Stormwater Utility Credit Program and Car-Free Diet.
After the app
Beyond racking up points for environmentally friendly actions in GetGreen, the county has plenty of ways to help you power down.
The Arlington Initiative to Rethink Energy (AIRE), a subset of the county’s Sustainability and Environmental Management, helps facilitate energy-saving programs for residents, from getting a home energy audit to offering sustainable resources for renters.