Eco-Heroes Challenge

Savage's green initiative for the year is asking people to do one green deed a day. Called Eco-Heroes, the online tool will offer users a way to keep track of their progress and even compete with each other, a la the geolocation social network Foursquare. Online registration opened about two weeks ago.

"I'm hoping that that's going to catch on and be a much more affirming way of tackling these challenges," Savage said. "I'm not into the fear-mongering and the doomsday scenarios because I've been out on the ocean and felt overwhelmed by the scale of a challenge. And it absolutely made me slump into despondency and depression. And it's de-energizing. Whereas I find crossing milestones as I'm rowing and ticking off the numbers very energizing, very motivating," she said.