Can small businesses save the world?

A Redondo Beach advertising agency has created a mobile app to help local businesses discover how their day-to-day actions can have an impact on climate change.

“All these small businesses, they may be tiny, but as a whole their contribution starts adding up,” said Luis Vasquez-Ajmac, president of Maya Advertising. “That’s why they’re key.”

Released last month, Maya’s Cool California iPhone app is part of the agency’s work for the California Air Resources Board and is designed to help small businesses reduce their carbon footprint – and save money on energy. An Android version has also been released.

The app features a carbon footprint calculator broken down by factors such as fuel economy and energy consumption, along with tips, stories from other users and a “funding wizard” program that finds grants and rebates for businesses.

Developing the app took less than four months and was a collaborative effort with the Air Resources Board. Content for the app came from research done by UC Berkeley. Vasquez-Ajmac said his agency hired a developer to create the app and worked with a team from Berkeley that created the Cool California website, CoolCalifornia.org.

Vasquez-Ajmac has been working with the Air Resources Board for three years, developing campaigns to help promote sustainable living.

“The thing about the app is to make things light,” he said. “It gives you what you need in a condensed form.”

– Subrina Hudson