OTTAWA, May 3 (Xinhua) -- In a bid to raise awareness on reducing emissions, a Canadian professor launched a contest for the "greenest" person in the world, offering the adoption of a pod of Arctic beluga whales as a prize, Canadian Television reported on Saturday.

    "Given the trajectory of the planet, we need to make stars out of people who are going above and beyond to really live a green lifestyle," said Boyd Cohen, 37, an assistant professor of sustainable development and entrepreneurship at Simon Fraser University.

    While global awareness about sustainability is growing, knowledge about meaningful actions people can do to reduce their footprint is still short, he said.

    Applicants will need to fill out a multiple-choice survey and write a short essay. Finalists will be asked to submit a five-minute video that shows their green life.

    So far Cohen has received hundreds of entries, mostly from Canada, but at least 10 each from India and Venezuela. He said he hopes to see a significant turnout from at least 50 countries.

    Cohen said he himself tries to lead a life as green as possible: he walks, cycles, drives a hybrid vehicle, uses reusable shopping bags, buys offsets when traveling and uses power-saving compact-fluorescent bulbs.

    The prize is going to be announced next month on Cohen's website -- 3rdwhale.com. After that, Cohen will launch another project: a green dating service for like-minded singles.