Chequamegon Food Co-op in Ashland, Wis., recently unveiled its new Carbon-Free Challenge, an initiative designed to track carbon reduction when people use alternate transportation forms to driving when they come to the co-op. 

“Eventually, we’ll translate that into carbon saved, miles traveled, etc.,” said Kiersten Galazen, Chequamegon’s general manager.

The program was the brainchild of Chequamegon’s wellness manager, Christel Sketch. She proposed the idea at a management team meeting, and from there the co-op’s leadership team put together a small committee to iron out the details. 

The co-op has forms on clipboards at each register for customers to self-track their walking, biking or skateboarding distance, and will start totaling the miles and publishing those numbers soon. While Chequamegon is only a month or so into the program, Galazen said that so far it has been well received. She added that she thinks it would be great to have additional partner co-ops in the Midwest join the movement with Chequamegon. 

“Maybe we could share ideas, get some friendly competition going,” Galazen said. “Anyway, check it out, and if it is something your co-op ends up adopting, please let us know!”  

Read more about the Carbon-Free Challenge here.