Building a sustainable community online

Sometimes an idea comes along that is so obvious, you wonder why it took so long to happen. Try marrying the social media explosion with promoting green-friendly lifestyles. How more eco-friendly can you get then meeting virtually to exchange ideas on non-motorized transit?

That’s World Commute in a nutshell. WorldCommute.com is a non-profit, social media site that promotes clean, non-motorized transit.  Users create a profile and record all of their non-motorized trips – whether to work, or just around the corner for some gum. In addition, user record recreational and fitness activities scoring “health points”.

Each time a member logs a trip, the real time distance traveled, money and gas saved, pollution off-set and health points are displayed. Yeah, it’s basically just peer pressure, but the positive kind. Remember being told to eat your vegetables because they’re good for you?  Same idea.

Peer pressure only gets you so far. World Commute offers encouragement to site users. The site includes resources for starting commuting programs, as well as general information on walking and biking programs. Veteran commuters are offered the roles of “ambassadors” or mentors to that end.

World Commute aims to be a one-stop resource for calculating and tracking transportation statistics. This means local trips, global tours, and everything in between.

Now why didn’t I think of that?