Andy Stowers unloads a box full of mixed paper at the Twelfth & Haskell Bargain Center, 1146 Haskell Ave. Although some paid services provide Lawrence residents with the luxury of curbside recycling, many Lawrencians still hand deliver their recyclables. The city of Topeka provides curbside recycling services to its residents.

Topeka is putting Lawrence to shame in an online competition to find America’s most environmentally conscious city, and it’s not afraid to do some taunting.

“Ha, Lawrence: Maybe you’re not so environmentally conscious after all,” an article in The Topeka Capital-Journal gloated after Topeka climbed to seventh place nationwide last week in the “Be a Better Planet” campaign promotion sponsored by Yahoo!.

The contest aims to get residents to create a Yahoo! account and take one of a series of earth-themed actions, such as making a pledge for how they’ll change their personal habits to cut carbon emissions. The city with the highest participation, weighted to the size of the city, wins a fleet of hybrid taxis or $250,000 for an environmentally friendly project.

Topeka’s ranking comes in part because the Yahoo! employee organizing the campaign, Meg Garlinghouse, is a Topeka native. Her mother, Susan, convinced the city of Topeka to make an announcement urging residents to participate.

Not to be outdone, Lawrence residents are sending e-mails aiming to catch up. Lawrence started the week ranked in the high 200s and had climbed to 24th place by Wednesday.

“I thought ‘we can’t let Topeka get the upper hand on this,'” said Lawrence resident Leslie McCaffrey, who grew up in Topeka and is friends with Meg Garlinghouse.

The contest can be found at better.yahoo.com/planet. Participants must create a Yahoo! account if they don’t have one, but can opt out of providing personal details such as their home address.