Paw Print

Paw Print is for all pet owners. 66% of US households and 62% of UK households have a pet. We often want our pets to talk to us and now thanks to Paw Print they can. You can create a virtual version of your own actual pet who will give advice on how to look after the planet better. You can earn rewards for following this advice - which you can use in the real or virtual world.

The Apps for Good course made us think of a range of factors that contributes to the climate crisis. We often think it’s largely down to big business and industry - but it made us think closer to home about things we have direct control over.

We generated a wide range of ideas and since two of our team have pets - we were really interested and alarmed at how pet owners are damaging the environment, often because they don't know any better. Paw Print will help education and change behaviours (in fun ways) - resulting in better pets and a better planet!

Feeding dogs and cats creates the equivalent of around 64 million tons of carbon dioxide in the US each year. That’s roughly the same impact as 13.6 million cars on the road. And, if our furry friends formed a separate country, it would rank 5th in global meat consumption behind China, the US, Brazil and Russia. (That’s just cats and dogs in the USA - so you can sense the scale of this problem.)

Paw Print is going to tap in to our love of pets to educate and change bad habits that are damaging to the environment.

Our app will raise awareness of dodgy decisions we are making regarding our pets and give better advice as to how to take better care of the environment and pets. This will spill out into other areas of people's’ lives, as they will be much more environmentally conscious.

You start by taking a photo of your beloved pet. Paw Print will generate a digital version of your pet which will give regular advice on how to make better decisions for both your pet and the environment.

This will be fun, but we think people will listen to their pet! You can also challenge other virtual pets in our fun pet show area - agility, show, flyball and other categories. This will encourage people to keep using the apps and keep getting that important advice.

We know there will be many ideas deserving of your vote, but we really believe Paw Print will not only educate people about the climate crisis, but spark them to change their behaviours and think more about how their actions are damaging the environment.

We are a nation of pet lovers and we will harness this love in a fun way to kick start our climate crisis fightback!