Abstract

What happens when five young LEGO robotics students take on the FLL "Smart Move" challenge to make our cities' transportation systems more sustainable? We inspire communities to tackle these challenges successfully! Sustainability Challenge Transportation choices drive 34% of US climate impacts - a central sustainability challenge. In Oregon alone, transport-related carbon emissions are expected to rise by 50%, despite our 80% reduction goal by 2050. What drives this problem? 71% of people commute alone while only 11,000 NW carpoolers are recorded: however, the majority of our rush hour trips are in fact personal -- not worked related! Our Solution Our FLL team tackled this personal travel challenge by creating a Google-map for community organizations such as schools and churches to self-organize carpools. The map helps Congregations know who is carpool-ready, where they live - and then ride-share through social networking connections on-line via the map. Community Response: Our team's solution has been adopted by numerous organizations, (spanning churches, schools and Oregon's interfaith network) and was recognized by the Portland Tribune alongside leading transportation experts. Portland Sustainable Development Commission commented: "We've been wondering how to tackle carpooling using social networking for years. We've just issued a $1.1m grant to solve this problem and you now provide this service for free!" Through community feedback we discovered that our creative engineering solution could simultaneously tackle other pressing "Grand Challenges", from promoting healthier, safer communities to providing more equitable access to transportation services. So we're proud of our compelling solution to so many real-world "Grand Challenges".

Submission Document

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Email sue@climateneutral.com