Try Facebook Connect

We love Site Feedback

School Teams – Guide to Getting Started

This guide provides information for students who’d like to join Carbonrally and form teams with their classmates.

There are three main steps for using Carbonrally:

Step 1 – Registering as a “Rallyer”
Step 2 – Creating or joining a team
Step 3 – Taking CO2 challenges

These three steps are described below.


Step 1 (if you are 13 or older): Register yourself as a Rallyer

  1. Click “signup” in the top left of the homepage
  2. Enter your email address and zip code and click “register” (note: your email address will never be shown to the public)
  3. Enter a nickname. We recommend using a name that your friends might recognize, but do not use your full name or your last name to protect your privacy
  4. Enter a password that will be easy to remember
  5. Upload a photo or icon for yourself
  6. Select “in high school or junior high”
  7. Add some additional information about yourself in the “about me” area. Consider including interests, hobbies, your goals for being part of Carbonrally. Do not expose personal information like your full name, last name, address, and email address here.
  8. Click “SAVE”

If you are younger than 13, you must work in a buddy system with an adult (for example a parent or teacher) to register for and use Carbonrally. Your adult buddy must be the one to register for Carbonrally using his/her email address.

Use the steps above, but in step 6, still use “in high school or junior high” even if you are in a lower grade. In step 7, state that “I am working with an adult to participate in Carbonrally”. Do not expose personal information like your full name, last name, address, and email address on your profile page.

Step 2: Join or create a team

Be a team player! Join a Carbonrally team

One of your classmates may have already created a team. To join his/her team, use the following steps. If your school or class does not already have a team, consider starting one – see “Create a team” section below.

  • Explore the site to find a team to join:
    1. Use the Search Box on the left side of most pages. Enter words that might be related to the team (town name, leader, nickname).
    2. The search results might provide a team that you’d like to join.
    3. Once you find a team to join, click the “Join This Team!” link at the bottom on the green section for the team
  • If you have received an email invitation to join a team on Carbonrally:
    1. Click on the link in the email. You should arrive on the team page
    2. Click the “Join This Team!” link at the bottom on the green section for the team
    3. If you are not already signed-up for Carbonrally, do this now. See the sections on “Registering as a Rallyer.”
  • If there is a team badge on a friend’s web page or blog:
    1. Click on the badge on the web page
    2. You should arrive on the team page
    3. Click the “Join This Team!” link at the bottom on the green section for the team
    4. Sign-up for Carbonrally. See the sections on Registering as a Rallyer.
  • If you cannot find your team, ask a classmate who is already a member of the team to send you an email invitation

Be a leader! Create a Carbonrally team!

First consider if a team you want to join has already been created by a friend or classmate. If so, see the “Join a team” section. If not, consider creating a team among your classmates. When you create a team, you will be the leader of that team.

  1. Register for Carbonrally if you have not already done so (see section above).
  2. Login to your account on Cabonrally.com.
  3. Click the green “Create A New Team” button on left side of the page.
  4. Enter a name and motto for your team. Choosing a name and motto for your team will depend on who you expect to be a part of your team. Your team could be for your whole school system, your individual school, your club, sports team, classroom, etc.
  5. Choose the Team Type: School (pre-school, elementary, high school)
  6. Leave the “Invitation-only” box unchecked. If you find that unwanted people are joining your team, you can check this box later to require all new members to be invited by you or your teammates.
  7. Add a description of your team. You may include some HTML or Textile in this description.
  8. Upload a team icon.
  9. Click “update”.

Invite people to join your team!

Whether you are a team leader or a team member, you can invite classmates and parents to join your team. There are a couple of different ways in which you may get people to join your team. The following steps may be used by any member of the team (not just the team leader).

  • Send an email invitation to people who would like to join your team.

    1. Click on the green button “My Team Page” on the left side of the page.
    2. The purple “My Team” area will appear on the left side of the page.
    3. Click the purple “Invite Friends to Team” on the left side of the page.
    4. In the “Add Recipients” box, enter the email addresses of the classmates and parents you’d like to invite to join your team. You can also access your email address book by clicking on the green “Get addresses from my address book” button under the “Add Recipients” box.
    5. In the “Add Your Message” box you may add a personal message.
    6. Press “Send Invitation”.
    7. An individual email invitation to join your Carbonrally team will be sent to each of the recipients.

  • Post a team badge on your web page or blog. A team badge is a small image used on websites to promote your team and gives people an easy way to join your team. See the example team badge below. By clicking on a team badge, the user will be taken to your team on Carbonrally. When they sign-up for Carbonrally they will automatically also join your team. Your team badge will show the total CO2 impact your team has had and the number of members of the team.

    Here is how to get a team badge:

    1. Click on the green button “My Team Page” on the left side of the page.
    2. On the left side of the page, under the buttons, you will be able to see your team badge.
    3. Click on the “installation instructions” link under the team badge.
    4. Copy the Javascript code.
    5. Paste the Javascript code to your website.

    Note: If you are not able to use Javascript on your web page, stay tuned for other versions of the team badges – coming soon.


Step 3: Take a challenge, or two, or three!

Taking Carbonrally challenges is when the fun really starts. Taking a challenge can be an adventure and you can share comments with other people taking the challenge on the site.

  • You will find all of the challenges listed under the “Challenges” tab.
  • Click on a specific challenge to read the details. A challenge page includes lots of information about a challenge, including:
    • Summary of the challenge
    • Button to take the challenge marked “Accept this challenge”
    • A map of everyone in the USA who has taken the challenge
    • Details about how the challenge reduces CO2 and climate change
    • Rules for taking the challenge
    • Reference links to learn more
    • The math used to calculate the CO2 impact for the challenge
    • And, finally a comments section has all kinds of information being shared by other people taking the challenge. Consider posting a comment of your own to share your tips or experiences with other Rallyers.