Episode 198

Clean Something For Nothing To Make An Impact

Episode Summary: in this episode of CarbonSessions, we dive deep into a conversation with César, co-founder of Clean Something For Nothing (CSFN).

With their innovative app, CSFN empowers individuals to clean nature, one bag of trash at a time. Their platform brings together a community of people, municipalities, and companies, fostering collaboration to create a cleaner and healthier environment for all.

César shares the inspiring mission of CSFN, where every small contribution toward removing litter counts as a step toward their collective objective—a testament to the power of shared responsibility.

Driven by their vision for a litter-free world, César and the CSFN team aim to build a conscious and collaborative society. They believe that together, we can create a world where nature flourishes in its purest form, ensuring future generations inherit a cleaner and healthier planet.

Tune in to learn how this impactful initiative harnesses the power of community to spark significant environmental change.

To find out more about CSFN go to https://cleansomethingfornothing.com/

You can also download the app and start a cleanup right away!

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For more information on the project and to order your copy of the Carbon Almanac (one of Amazon best-selling books of the year!), visit thecarbonalmanac.org

Want to join in the conversation?

Visit thecarbonalmanac.org/podcasts and send us a voice message on this episode or any other climate-related ideas and perspectives.

Don’t Take Our Word For It, Look It Up!

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Featuring Carbon Almanac Contributors Leekei Tang, Brian Tormey, Jennifer Myers Chua, Olabanji Stephen, and Kristina Horning

Leekei is a fashion business founder, a business coach, an international development expert and podcaster from Paris, France.

Brian is a Real Estate Title Insurance Professional and Goat Farmer in the US.

Jennifer is a Torontonian and CCO of a conscious distribution company. She is also the co-founder of Goodbids, a tool that connects worthy causes with people who want to have fun supporting them.

Olabanji is from Lagos Nigeria. He’s a Creative Director and visual designer that helps brands gain clarity, deliver meaningful experiences and build tribes through Design & Strategy. He founded Jorney - a community designed to help people stay productive, accountable, and do their best work.

Kristina has a background in architecture and engineering. Currently in Prague (that it is where she is originally from) and her base is US.

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The CarbonSessions Podcast is produced and edited by Leekei Tang, Steve Heatherington and Rob Slater.

Transcript
Speaker:

Hi, I'm Christina.

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I'm from Prague.

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Hi, I'm Jen, and I'm from Canada.

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Hi, I'm Oladunji, and I'm from Nigeria.

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Hello, I'm Liki, and I live in Paris.

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Hi, I'm Brian, and I'm from New York.

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Welcome to Carbon Sessions, a podcast with

Carbon Conversations for every day, with

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everyone, from everywhere in the world.

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In our conversations, we share ideas,

Perspectives, questions, and things we

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can actually do to make a difference.

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So don't be shy and join our Carbon

Sessions because it's not too late.

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Hi, I'm Liki.

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And today we have an amazing guest, Jath.

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I've met a few weeks ago when I

attended a summit, a kind of summit

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in Paris that was called Channel.

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It's the, the tagline of this

summit is Solutions for the Planet.

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And I was walking.

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Down the aisles and I saw someone that

was wearing a big black jacket, a very

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dark color and it was covered with trash,

like pieces of litter taped onto this.

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And I think this is genius, you know, this

guy is the wizard of Guerrilla marketing.

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It just made me laugh because I don't

know if I mean, I bet that he didn't pay

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his booth to get attention, but I'm sure

that he got a lot of people talk to him.

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And so that's how I bum into him,

and I started talking to him, and he

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was trying to sell me the idea that I

should join trash picking adventures.

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Which I think, no, um,

I don't want to do this.

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It is real disgusting.

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I mean, I know someone who, of this group

that loves doing it, which is Brian , and

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so you have to come on this podcast to

us and talk to this group and why, well,

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why it's good to pick up trash and why

you think that it can be a good thing

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and beneficial for the environment.

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So welcome Cesar.

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Thank you so much, Liki.

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Thank you for having me.

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It's a big pleasure.

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And this introduction is, I think,

the most epic I've ever had.

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Yeah.

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How do you come up with this idea?

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I think it's really genius.

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Thank you so much.

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I remember well the time

we met in Change Now.

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Um, well, it all started by me

picking up litter literally one day.

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I was in my hometown, in

the house of my parents.

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so much.

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They live in the countryside.

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I saw trash and I, it bothered

me that day, especially for

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some reason, God knows why.

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And then I just grab a bag and 10 minutes,

15 minutes later, I picked up the trash

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that was, uh, on the side of the road.

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And I felt good.

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I saw a direct impact and I

said, wow, I just created value.

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Doing a very simple

thing for 10, 15 minutes.

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Like it's good for me because now

it's not bothering for my mom.

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Maybe if she realized when

she's back home, I mean, all the

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neighbors, everybody passing by.

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So I created value in a way.

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And yeah, that was the,

that was the starting point.

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And I said, okay, what if each

one of us does this just like 10

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minutes, what would it happen?

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And so, yeah, it all started

that, uh, that at that moment.

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So, as I said, What if everybody does it?

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I went on the internet and

yeah, I wasn't a pioneer.

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Many people out there

was doing it already.

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And I discovered this beautiful

community on Instagram and I created

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this page, clean something for nothing,

because that's what, what I did.

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I just cleaned something for nothing.

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I didn't expect anything in return.

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I just did it because.

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I felt great, obviously, and, uh, I

did something good for, for myself

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as well, but for my environment.

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So, yeah, to make it a bit short, this

hashtag, clean something for nothing,

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I was using it in all my cleanups.

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I did, um, a trip in my campervan and

everywhere I would go, I would first

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clean for five or ten minutes, no big

deal, and then take out the chairs and

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maybe have some, some lunch or whatever.

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In near the, in the

forest or near the beach.

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And so this hashtag went kind of vital.

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Uh, now we have over 15, 000

posts using the long hashtag clean

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something for nothing on Instagram.

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So at that point, my friend Lester

and myself, we are the two founders

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of clean something for nothing.

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We said, okay, we are now.

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Quite a lot of people out there doing

this clean something for nothing.

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It would be nice to put this in value.

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That means how many of us are out there?

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How many kilos are we picking up?

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And you started in Luxembourg, right?

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Okay.

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No, uh, my hometown is Spain.

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No, but you, you got the point

because I live in Luxembourg.

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So that's where we are based

and that's where I live.

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Uh, but I am a Spanish originally

from Leon in the north of Spain.

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So yeah, the first cleanup happened

there, but that was my first cleanup.

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Today is not, I mean, the app is

thanks to all the people behind

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all the users that it has a value.

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Otherwise it would just be another app.

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And it's basically worldwide.

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Yeah, so I was in the point where

I told you, okay, it would be nice

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to have an app that was in 2020.

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Um, a bit after the pandemic started.

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So my friend Lester and me decided,

okay, let's, let's find a mobile app.

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So we went on the Play Store, Apple

Store, um, checked for all the mobile

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apps related to litter picking.

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We found quite a lot, to be

honest, about 14 different apps.

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We checked all of them, but we came

out with the conclusion that none of

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those would fit what we wanted to do.

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Why?

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Because most of those apps

were very data oriented.

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That means you as a user, after your

cleanup, had to spend, uh, Quite amount of

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time to post what you picked up that, that

is because you needed to categorize the

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litter, uh, to say, for instance, I picked

these pieces of plastic, this plastic was

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a bottle or was it a wrap or et cetera.

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So it was very good for the data,

but for you as a user, after

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like 10 minutes, half an hour of

cleanup, you don't want to do that.

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So we came to this approach,

we sit down and be like, Okay,

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let's try to do something not

data oriented, but user oriented.

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And that was where everything ignited.

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We started to talk to people that we

met on Instagram, doing video calls,

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one on one, asking for their opinion.

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What would be their best mobile app,

according to their needs, to their wishes.

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Uh, we met like, yeah, about 15

people or something like this.

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We call these people the beta group.

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Then we also checked all the reviews,

crazy, like every single comment from

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existing apps, and we took the good

part, the good comments in one side

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and the bads in the other side to

understand better what was required.

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And with all this info, we

built what today is the clean

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something for nothing app.

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I have a question about these hashtags.

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So if you started on Instagram and you

saw these hashtags growing, what In

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what context were people using those?

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Was it individuals?

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Was it organizations?

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Was it classes?

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Who was using your hashtag?

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Oh yeah, so mostly

organizations and individuals.

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So organizations, litter pickers,

people who meet once a week on

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Saturday morning, something like

this, and clean up regularly.

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And the good thing about this

hashtag is that inequivocally

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it's about litter picking.

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It's not about, you know, you post

another thing and you use the hashtag.

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No, this one is really niche.

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So they, yeah, mostly cleanup groups,

although some schools as well.

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But mostly cleanup groups

and individuals as well.

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I have another question.

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Um, I told you, I'm not a big,

um, leader picking person.

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Um, I get it when I go, um, when I go

and do plugging and, um, I, you know,

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um, in the forest because they are,

there's no cleaning team, but in the

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city, um, in the city, they are people

picking up junk, picking up the litters.

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like today I saw some people, a

group of people picking up trash

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on the, on the ground in Paris.

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And I thought, yeah, but

why are they doing it?

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Because there are other people

that professionals doing it.

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And because this goes back to, uh,

one of the comment of when I was young

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and in school and was long time ago,

but at that, uh, people were smoking

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and, um, teachers were smoking.

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And I, I told one of my

teacher because I saw him.

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Throwing a cigarette butt on the, um, on

the floor and say, why are you doing this?

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And he told me that, you know,

if I don't do that, the street

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cleaners won't have any jobs.

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So I'm doing them a favor, very

contrarian idea onto onto onto

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taking a job of street cleaners.

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Keeping unemployment rates high, I mean.

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No, but it was a long time ago, but, but

my question is that, you know, who, who,

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what kind of people would, obviously

I'm, I'm not a big fan of, you know, of

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picking the trash, but what sort of people

would, Would find joy in picking trash.

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I know I would do it.

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So why do you guys do that?

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Well, for example, the other day I went

out with my daughter and we saw in a park,

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like a local park in our neighborhood,

there was a bunch of kids doing it

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together and it's getting them excited

about, you know, taking care of their

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community and taking care of the land.

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But I mean, street

cleaners, we're a big city.

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It gets dirty around here and I don't

know if even the employees of the City

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of Toronto have enough time to go through

every single park every day so it's

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nice to be a part of something leaky

and do good for for your community.

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And like I have fun doing it

and and and almost like you know

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seeing and like thinking about

the story behind each piece.

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Um, I was just on a hike with, uh,

with two friends and, and it was the

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first time one of the two had ever,

we'd ever gone on a hike together.

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We've only, he started dating

my other friend recently.

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By the end of the hike, I had all this

trash that I was carrying and I think

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he just kept like sort of looking at

me a little bit weird and askance.

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Um, but I, but he got it by the end,

you know, and it's just like, it was

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fun and it led to some conversation.

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And there was, but there was interesting,

I was like, this piece is a piece

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of like That culvert that must've

washed down like From 200 yards ago.

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That means that like, there's

like a story behind each thing.

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And when I was doing the, the sort

of inspired thing from Josh Spodek,

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one of our other guests, I found this

baby doll that I still have today that

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I found on the side of the highway.

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There was just this wonderful image

of this baby doll that has like a

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breathing apparatus and a thing.

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That's how it was formed.

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But it's actually like living in

this trash pile on the side of

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the highway with a breathing app,

like a scuba thing and goggles.

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And I was like, Oh, this is appropriate.

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Our children are needing to live in all

this trash with this, with this imagery.

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But, and I used to get my soccer

kids to like, we'd make so many games

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out of it and be like, okay, the

person gets to be in goal who gets

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me five or more pieces of trash first

from the park we're practicing in.

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Right.

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Like, and they had, it's so much fun

to just, I think personally, kids like

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to be involved and you know, we all

can't be archeologists these days.

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So it gives us something to do.

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I like it.

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Um, yeah.

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So about the cigarette butt thing.

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Uh, it's estimated that each, uh,

second, about 13, 000 cigarette butts

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are thrown on the floor every second.

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And, uh, to give some figure, um, in

the EU, 13 billion euros are spent every

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year on, uh, littering efforts only.

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Um, No, so yeah, just to say that the

thing about the jobs is like Maybe I'm

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exaggerating a bit, but like saying I

commit a small crime so that there can

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be more policemen And then I don't know.

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It's my first time I hear this

comment, to be honest, even friends

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of mine, I heard telling me that

like back in the day, or even today,

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some of them joking, of course, but

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I guess that you don't walk

around with this jacket every day.

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That was actually the first time.

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Okay.

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Yeah.

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No, no, no.

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Um, That's a really nice question.

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Actually, my answer is not going

to be that probably inspiring.

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I've been always a normal guy.

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I always loved nature.

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That's for sure.

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I grew up in nature among other things.

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Uh, you know, surrounded by in my

home, like on one side, there is

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horses and then the other cows.

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So I was like, my first

word was moo, the cow noise.

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I swear to God, that was my first word.

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And, um, no, nothing really happened.

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Especially.

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I never trash, like I don't

use the trash even before.

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Uh, 2018 I start picking up litter,

but I reckon I reckon sometimes I

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flipped cigarettes on the floor.

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Uh, I'm a occasional smoker and

that I've done it, but I realized

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very quickly when once I picked

my first, uh, pieces of trash.

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That this will never happen ever again,

like as soon as I did my first cleaner,

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a click happened on me and I realized

that it was super dumb to do that.

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And of course, the first

thing is never trash it.

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If you can also try to avoid

overconsumption, that's another thing.

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And if, if you can just pick it

up, um, it doesn't cost much.

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And even if it's just one or

two pieces, it counts and you

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have been part of the solution.

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And you're making things better.

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You can also exercise because

you know, some people, uh, as you

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mentioned, like, uh, stop looking

at the chrono and start plugging and

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now they look at the number of bags.

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So yeah, it's, uh, there are many

different angles where you can

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see these actions and you can find

positiveness and good reasons to do that.

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I believe.

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What do you think?

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What is using the

experience of your app like?

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Like, I haven't had a

chance to look at it.

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I'm in Canada and I don't

think it's available here.

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What happens when someone downloads

your app and decides to use this to

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make an impact in their community or

to pick up litter or get some exercise

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or whatever it is they want to do?

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What is that experience like?

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Like, how does it work?

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Right.

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Great.

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So, the app is very easy to use.

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So, you need to go outside, um,

find some trashy area or Take some

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photos of before and after your

cleanup and post it on the app.

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The way you post it is very similar to

instagram where you have photos to add

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you have a caption or description you

have A location but now in our app you

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need to fill number of bags collected.

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So you say for instance three bags

You select the size of each of the

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bags, and it could be 50 liters or

in gallons, I don't know exactly,

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but and then with that info, we

already have the volume, the cleanup.

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And that's one of the things we

measure volume in liters and weight

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in kilograms, the weight we estimated

for you based on, um, over 50

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cleanups that we on a scale measure.

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And we had the liter.

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And the kilos so we took a average

on that So people if you don't if you

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don't have a hundred scale with you,

we estimated the weight But if you do

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you can also type the exact amount and

that's pretty That's pretty much it.

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You can also tag your friends.

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So if we two clean together 20 kilos,

I just tag you And these 20 go 10

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and 10 for each of our profiles.

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And why the app?

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Uh, we do that to share, to

celebrate, uh, how much we clean.

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You also have levels

in the app is gamified.

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So the more you clean, the more you

level up your profile and you discover

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endangered animals on the way.

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So we have five levels.

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We want to extend it now to 10 because

many people already passed the game.

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You can say now we want to do,

we are in a moment where we

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want to give more to the user.

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So we want to do clean something

for nature as a, as an add on.

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You don't only pick up litter,

but your kilos can mean.

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Impact in another way.

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So for instance, let's

put it one down example.

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If you collect five kilos,

you can plant five trees.

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That's where the question

of corporates came.

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Um, I can explain their business

model, but that, that's what we

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want to do now is like this person.

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um, maybe you can, give us a

little bit more details about the

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gamification that you provide to the

users, because , I believe , that for

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the users to use your app again and

again, there's, there's, uh, some sort

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of ideas of some of those in place.

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Yeah, so basically you as a user, you have

control of all your impact, first of all.

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So you see all your cleanups,

you see how many liters have you

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picked up, you see a graphic of how

you evolve on your liter picking.

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As I said, you have levels so you can

see your journey, how many, how many

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badges, like levels you have completed.

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So it gives you a sense of, uh, wow,

these little efforts that I do on my

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weekends now are like 500 kilos of

litter collected and so many cleanups.

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It gives you a sense of understanding.

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This is small efforts have, have

a massive impact to give you some

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figures that I forgot to say, which

is the most important now the app

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has 4, 200 more 4, 200 cleanups.

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And in total, that is 840 plus

tons of litter in, in 65 countries.

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And this is all bag after bag.

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We didn't use machines here.

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It's just hand picking litter.

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And that's it.

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It's amazing.

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I believe for me, it's

incredible to be part of this.

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That is amazing.

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That is amazing.

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So you answered to one of my

question in which is in how many

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countries your app is available.

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So it's 64, you said 65 and we

are in Canada as well, Jennifer.

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Although the app says 66, so

maybe it's more than that.

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Well, I'm rushing to download

it right now, I guess.

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I guess I didn't do my research.

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That's great, thank you.

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You must have, Clay, love a big

amount of data, interesting ones.

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What do you do with that?

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No, nothing.

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We keep it safe, store, and encrypt it.

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Yeah, no, no, it's true.

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We don't use any advertisement.

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We don't, we just keep it safe.

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We, we, it's in the cloud.

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I mean, it's a normal standards

and yeah, but we, we have the data

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and we try to open it to everybody.

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So that means we have a, an open map.

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Everybody can click on every cleanup

so you can see the photos and the

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description of all the 4, 200 cleanups.

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If you want to, uh, um, you have

also a ranking with the top litter

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pickers of your country, the ranking

or worldwide, you can see that stats,

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those stats monthly as well in the app,

everything pretty visual and simple.

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You can also go to the people's profile

and have a look at what they are doing,

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where are they cleaning, how much,

and maybe you can connect with them.

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Eventually, if you look at your area

and you find somebody picking up litter

350

:

there, you might want to contact him.

351

:

And then, yeah, maybe cling together

and make friends and make friends.

352

:

Why not?

353

:

I don't know if the recruits,

but, you know, just, just the

354

:

way I'm thinking about it.

355

:

So have you, have you sort of had that

kind of experience where people are

356

:

like, Hey dude, yeah, pick your leader.

357

:

I don't wanna be, you know, just 'cause

there's a feeling of sort of, uh,

358

:

self-conscious shame associated with

it, you know, and, and stuff like that.

359

:

Yeah.

360

:

Yeah.

361

:

Thank you.

362

:

Lavan?

363

:

Yes.

364

:

Uh, not too much, but I have felt

that really when I organize cleanups,

365

:

otherwise I don't, I never s.

366

:

See that almost on my Instagram feed

because the people we normally follow are

367

:

people like minded that pick up litter.

368

:

But when I organize cleanups, um, some

occasions happen that some people came and

369

:

what you could tell, they weren't feeling

good, they were on, not on the right mood.

370

:

And therefore, if you are not in

the correct mindset, this experience

371

:

can be very, very bad, uh, very bad,

honestly, like who would like to With the

372

:

mindset of this is someone else's job.

373

:

I'm not even being paid.

374

:

And no matter how much you're paid,

probably, even if you get some

375

:

pennies, you never feel satisfied.

376

:

Probably right.

377

:

If you think about the in this sense.

378

:

Yeah.

379

:

Some people.

380

:

That's interesting.

381

:

I mean, cause later on the streets

of Nigeria, it's one of two things.

382

:

Most likely you're either, you

either work to pick litter or offense

383

:

and you were just served community

service and they probably just

384

:

asked you to go pick little bits.

385

:

And so if I'm picking it, I'm

like, Hey, I don't want you to

386

:

look like I did something wrong.

387

:

You know, um, um, when it's a community

effort is usually very, Um, it's easy

388

:

just cause everyone's doing it as well.

389

:

So it's clearly a community effort.

390

:

You know, when it's like, it's

just me and I'm picking leaders

391

:

like, Hey dude, you're good.

392

:

Um, I do, it doesn't happen all the time.

393

:

That's funny culturally

how that works though.

394

:

Like think about it where

I, where I live in Canada.

395

:

It's very much more so like community

groups will say, Hey, we're all going

396

:

to go on Saturday to the ravine and

we're going to pick litter together.

397

:

And it's like a community bonding

activity and it's altruistic

398

:

and it's all of these things.

399

:

It's such a different experience.

400

:

It's so interesting.

401

:

But that's why we need this app.

402

:

This is why we need community and we need

gamification and we need feeling good

403

:

about things and we, we need your app.

404

:

That's what this is all about really.

405

:

I think Athena has a very

interesting question.

406

:

I know that César saw it, but maybe

you can ask and share the answer,

407

:

uh, share the question and then

share the answer with our listeners.

408

:

Yeah, I, uh, well, First, I wanted

to comment on a lick is, uh, the job

409

:

situation for the street cleaners.

410

:

I think there is a plenty

of street cleaning from the.

411

:

Leaves and other dirt that is not to

litter that they, I think their job

412

:

is secured, but, but what I was asking

about, uh, um, if you separate cleaning

413

:

in this nature and in the city and your

app and, uh, because I remember many,

414

:

many years ago, uh, there was a study

done where the neighborhoods, uh, that

415

:

had high crime, they, uh, Local people

started cleaning, uh, trash and, uh, from

416

:

the streets, and, uh, crime went down.

417

:

So, I was just wondering if, what

do you think about that, Cesar?

418

:

I think it's mega interesting.

419

:

I didn't know about it.

420

:

But another great reason to

like another great reason to say

421

:

that, um, so about the separating

cleaning in the nature and the city.

422

:

We don't have this, uh,

process to differentiate, but

423

:

every cleanup is geotagged.

424

:

That means it has a coordinate

as an exact location in a map.

425

:

So, eventually, if we manage to

gather a map or an information

426

:

that can tell us what is considered

city was considered nature.

427

:

And we can cross that we can easily

obtain this differentiation So eventually

428

:

it's possible to do and I think it will

be very interesting to do also if we

429

:

manage to understand But we I don't

know if we have that much data in a

430

:

locally Uh concentrated, but that will

be super interesting to see also the this

431

:

outcome of Reducing crime, also reducing

cleaning services costs, improving the

432

:

well being of people who walk there.

433

:

It's like a happy place to walk

and to live and to raise your kids.

434

:

Everybody wants to live in

a clean place, I believe.

435

:

I think that's right.

436

:

Well, Cesar, I had, you know,

sort of an interesting question.

437

:

I had looked on the app.

438

:

And to Christina's point, I can say that

here in New York, New York City, um,

439

:

there was a former mayor who really,

you know, championed a kind of concept

440

:

of like clean, you know, let's stop

all the little petty crimes and clean

441

:

up the litter and all this stuff.

442

:

And that will cascade into.

443

:

Reducing larger medium

crimes and larger crimes.

444

:

And I think it's broadly credited

as having worked this is, you know,

445

:

15, 20 years ago, but I was, I was

interestingly looking in your app and

446

:

saw no tags in New York city, like,

which I was sort of surprised me of,

447

:

you know, so many millions of people.

448

:

Um, and then I dug a little bit into some

of the data because you actually, it's so

449

:

available and I found it so interesting.

450

:

Where your user base has taken

off is very geographically, like

451

:

across the globe, it's very diverse.

452

:

I mean, you've got some mega user bases

in places like Chile, and Germany, and

453

:

Israel, and India, and like, just very,

like, there's There's not just like a,

454

:

uh, a geographic like hot zone per se,

but there are some places where it's

455

:

clearly taken off more than others.

456

:

And I was curious of your thoughts, right?

457

:

So if we think about, as Jennifer

said, the gamification and using the

458

:

app as a way of, like, pulling people

together and sort of, you know, Adding

459

:

some fun and competitiveness to it in

fun ways that encourages this behavior.

460

:

Are there any thoughts that you have

for our audience who's, you know, hears

461

:

about it, goes, grabs the app and goes

and starts using the app about how they

462

:

spread the word about it and how they get

that, that sort of like local, get the

463

:

snowball growing, uh, in their local area.

464

:

Wow.

465

:

Thank you so much, Brian, also

for doing that, uh, taking

466

:

the map is absolutely correct.

467

:

What everything you say, yeah,

there are so many things I would

468

:

like to answer, but, uh, it's true.

469

:

Uh, geographically we have, you

know, users from everywhere.

470

:

We started with the app

avail open to all countries.

471

:

It's now available in English,

French and Spanish language.

472

:

Um, and you, you asked me about.

473

:

What was the, the, then the second?

474

:

Oh, so if, if I'm in, so I'm, I am, I'm

your newest user located in New York.

475

:

How might, in addition to, I'm

going to have fun doing the first

476

:

geotag in New York city, by the

way, like I'm, I've got this.

477

:

Um, after that, how do I go, any

tips for people like myself who.

478

:

Like how they might go get

other people excited about it.

479

:

Like, are there any like ways ideas about

competitions or, you know, Jen, you were

480

:

mentioning like weekend things with your

co workers or your community, like any

481

:

tips about how you use the app to sort of

introduce it into those kind of, um, you

482

:

know, um, mean spreading kind of ways.

483

:

Yes, yes, yes, definitely.

484

:

Um, we have one section inside

the app called challenges.

485

:

And that's kind of the fun gamification

part where you can join efforts with

486

:

other people from either your region.

487

:

So you can have a challenge

only for your region.

488

:

Let's say New York City, we could do that.

489

:

We could say, okay, the New

York City cleanup challenge.

490

:

Let's make in one month.

491

:

Um, let's invite everybody to

pick up five pieces of litter.

492

:

Every day, something like this, you know,

and you could very easily share this

493

:

challenge on social media because with one

click, you can definitely share the link.

494

:

It has a deep link inside.

495

:

So that means everybody who click it

will end up eventually on your challenge,

496

:

whether they have the app or not,

whether they use Android or iPhone.

497

:

So that's one of the ways.

498

:

Also, you can, as a user,

share your own clean apps.

499

:

And so people, if they see the photo,

when you share your cleanup on our app

500

:

in, for instance, Twitter or WhatsApp,

you can see a thumbnail with your

501

:

main photo and a small description

inviting them to join the CSFN app

502

:

and start to make a difference.

503

:

So, yeah, for now, those two are.

504

:

Are available, but we keep on thinking.

505

:

We keep on, uh, yeah, I'm thinking how to

make it even better and more attractive

506

:

to everybody, always with a very positive

approach, never pointing out who's the

507

:

problem, who's guilty for that more, more

towards solution and very, as I said,

508

:

solution, positiveness, uh, oriented.

509

:

And if you have ideas, please let us know

because that's that's what made us go this

510

:

far people who are there That's great.

511

:

And and I think within that like I can

go issue a challenge as just me Brian

512

:

but is there also the ability to sort

of like do it for my company and sort

513

:

of like if I got my Company to say,

okay, we're going to do a challenge

514

:

to our employees or to our customers.

515

:

Like, can I do that too?

516

:

Yes, correctly.

517

:

Yeah, that's correct.

518

:

Um, we have different kinds of profiles.

519

:

Um, what we were, what we have

discussed now is the individual profile.

520

:

Each of us can have one, but

then there is group profiles and

521

:

for groups, it can be a school.

522

:

Can be a company and also it can be

a municipality because we have also

523

:

municipalities inside the app who promote

this tool as a, as an answer to littering,

524

:

as a sitting citizen engagement tool

to spread the, yeah, awareness through

525

:

the information about littering and

also action, action through the app.

526

:

Um, so yes, companies can definitely

create a group as a company and then They

527

:

can internally among their volunteers,

uh, the volunteers, their employees who

528

:

become volunteers to clean up litter.

529

:

Um, yeah, gathered together.

530

:

So the group is a big, a big umbrella

and all the efforts of the volunteers

531

:

who are in New York, but it can be

all over the U S are falling under the

532

:

same group, and then you can extract

reports directly from the app in PDF

533

:

that tells you how many clean house

participants, kilograms, all of that info.

534

:

Okay.

535

:

It's a CSR tool, actually, for

volunteering with corporate.

536

:

That's great.

537

:

I'm excited.

538

:

I can see elementary

schools wanting that, too.

539

:

Yeah, actually, we don't have schools

yet, but that exists, so they can join in.

540

:

Um, yeah, it's definitely

good, and we would like to do

541

:

leagues among different classes.

542

:

Like, yeah, the, the, the primary

school, uh, X, X, Y, Z league.

543

:

So people, so all the classrooms get

together and they see how many kilos or

544

:

cleanups each of the classroom has done.

545

:

And they can see the total

collected from, from all over.

546

:

The primary school, many,

many, many ways are there.

547

:

And we want to make the best possible

app and the most useful for the people.

548

:

But we are two friends, Lester and me.

549

:

Lester is the mastermind behind

the development of the app.

550

:

And yeah, we are limited in

resources, I'm not going to lie.

551

:

But we have a lot of ambition to keep

working on it and get it out there.

552

:

Maybe, you know, you can say

a few words about the business

553

:

model of your app, if you want to.

554

:

Yeah, thank you.

555

:

Yes, sure.

556

:

So as Brian said a little bit, companies

can create a profile in the app and

557

:

they can clean With their employees.

558

:

I usually do that with them in Luxembourg

whenever they want to do a team building

559

:

clean up I am there to explain also to

give a bit more Insights about littering

560

:

to explain and how to short the litter

and also to bring a nice vibe out of

561

:

it because that's super important to

Have a nice experience make it fun.

562

:

We play some music on the on the

way So companies can definitely join

563

:

the app, they just need to fill up

a form and we will receive it and

564

:

then we get in contact with them, get

the profile set for them and all the

565

:

guidelines needed to run the cleanup.

566

:

And I was saying that very

soon we will have other way of

567

:

collaborating for companies, less

active, but still valuable, which

568

:

is by helping us help our users.

569

:

So how is that?

570

:

For instance, you clean five kilos of

litter, and this company is gonna, you can

571

:

think about plant five trees, but you can

think also about a coral reef restoration,

572

:

or you can think about, yeah, you name it.

573

:

It's clean something for nature

spin off within the app, so that

574

:

companies can also fund with money the

plantation of trees, and users like us.

575

:

Each one of us can do even more good with

what is already good, which is speaking

576

:

up later, but we can really prove it.

577

:

Like I clean five kilos and these are

the five trees that are, have been

578

:

planted thanks to this pattern company X.

579

:

This is.

580

:

Something that still hasn't

been developed, but I tell

581

:

you now that it's been cooked.

582

:

Uh, we, I'll mention, we just did a

post for my work for Earth Day where

583

:

we did a program and it's been, I

think we're at 18 years now that we

584

:

launched a, a go pay paperless campaign

when, you know, that was before

585

:

everything was so easy to be digital.

586

:

It was, you know, when people

wanted to receive a paper report,

587

:

but we said to our customers, if

you order one of our reports, And

588

:

you receive it just digitally.

589

:

You forgo the paper version and us

putting it in the mail and whatnot.

590

:

Then we'll plant a tree

for every one of those.

591

:

And we've planted more trees than is in

Central Park, more than 25, 000 trees, you

592

:

know, in Central Park here in New York.

593

:

And it's, and it's been

interesting because.

594

:

It actually incentivized our customers

to like want to be engaged with us

595

:

and like be excited about seeing the

progress of that and I'm very excited

596

:

for this idea that you have of, of

allowing a company to sort of like

597

:

do an extra good on the on the tag on

to what your user is doing as a good

598

:

because I think it gives that opportunity

where It's like in many charities where

599

:

you're like raising money and there's

a, a two for one match right now.

600

:

You know, some, someone is sponsoring a

two for 1 you donate a hundred dollars.

601

:

It will be matched.

602

:

It's like you go clean some

litter and the litter is clean

603

:

and the coral reef is safe.

604

:

So I maybe not safe,

but positively impacted.

605

:

I don't know if we're, our

coral reefs are safe right now.

606

:

Uh, but anyway, I think that's a really

great idea and I can see, you know,

607

:

many companies really supporting that.

608

:

Thank you.

609

:

I'm hoping that.

610

:

Do you think that as well?

611

:

Yeah.

612

:

Well, and I think for our listeners,

Jen had suggested this, but for our

613

:

listeners, there's probably going to be

a lot of them out there who hear this

614

:

and have either questions or ideas or

resources, or they're at a school and

615

:

they're interested and excited and stuff.

616

:

So I think we would encourage

them to check out our show notes.

617

:

And they'll find information

for your website.

618

:

And if you're open to it, say

there may be even like some direct

619

:

contact information to reach out.

620

:

Yes.

621

:

And correspond with you on this line.

622

:

Thank you for, for bringing that up.

623

:

I am very open and willing to

chat and discuss with anybody.

624

:

Um, you can write me an email at info

at clean something for nothing dot com.

625

:

Or you can do that through

any of our social medias.

626

:

I am behind them.

627

:

So I will receive your messages.

628

:

You can say that you have listened

carbon sessions, and then I will know a

629

:

bit more where you where you came from.

630

:

Yeah, I'll be very happy to assist

you on any question you may have.

631

:

And here you're.

632

:

Your feedback.

633

:

And also I invite you all to clean

that, to, to, to join the app, um, clean

634

:

something for nothing or CSFN, you can

type also four letters, CSFN, um, yeah.

635

:

And just download it and start making

a nice impact in your neighborhood.

636

:

You're about to get a geotag

from downtown Toronto.

637

:

Give me about an hour or so.

638

:

If there's none in Paris, I will do it.

639

:

Oh, I love it, Leaky.

640

:

I think Leaky, you should do it

whether there are any in Paris or not.

641

:

Actually, no, no, I will do it in Paris,

but I'm going to Normandy next, next week.

642

:

And so I'm going to, I'm going to

use your app next week in Normandy.

643

:

So yeah.

644

:

Thank you.

645

:

Thank you so much.

646

:

That was great.

647

:

It was wonderful.

648

:

Thank you.

649

:

Yeah.

650

:

Thank you, Cesar.

651

:

That was fantastic.

652

:

Thank you, everybody.

653

:

I really enjoyed this.

654

:

Really.

655

:

Thank you.

656

:

You've been listening to Carbon Sessions.

657

:

A podcast with Carbon Conversations

for every day with everyone

658

:

from everywhere in the world.

659

:

We'd love you to join the Carbon

Sessions so you too can share your

660

:

perspectives from wherever you are.

661

:

This is a great way for our community

to learn from your ideas and

662

:

experiences, connect, and take action.

663

:

If you want to add your voice to the

conversation, go to thecarbonalmanac.

664

:

org slash podcast.

665

:

And sign up to be part

of a future episode.

666

:

This podcast is also part of

the Carbon Almanac Network.

667

:

For more information, to sign up for

the emails, to join the movement,

668

:

and to order your copy of the Carbon

Almanac, go to thecarbonalmanac.

669

:

org.

670

:

Be sure to subscribe and join

us here again, as together

671

:

we can change the world.

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Carbon Almanac

When it comes to the climate, we don’t need more marketing or anxiety. We need established facts and a plan for collective action.

The climate is the fundamental issue of our time, and now we face a critical decision. Whether to be optimistic or fatalistic, whether to profess skepticism or to take action. Yet it seems we can barely agree on what is really going on, let alone what needs to be done. We urgently need facts, not opinions. Insights, not statistics. And a shift from thinking about climate change as a “me” problem to a “we” problem.

The Carbon Almanac is a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration between hundreds of writers, researchers, thinkers, and illustrators that focuses on what we know, what has come before, and what might happen next. Drawing on over 1,000 data points, the book uses cartoons, quotes, illustrations, tables, histories, and articles to lay out carbon’s impact on our food system, ocean acidity, agriculture, energy, biodiversity, extreme weather events, the economy, human health, and best and worst-case scenarios. Visually engaging and built to share, The Carbon Almanac is the definitive source for facts and the basis for a global movement to fight climate change.

This isn’t what the oil companies, marketers, activists, or politicians want you to believe. This is what’s really happening, right now. Our planet is in trouble, and no one concerned group, corporation, country, or hemisphere can address this on its own. Self-interest only increases the problem. We are in this together. And it’s not too late to for concerted, collective action for change.