At a site that sells carbon credits you should look for the following:

• Clear green goals laid out – what exactly are they doing with funds?
• Are projects clearly defined. For example, how soon is your money used, what exactly is it used for, and how much of your money goes directly to the project vs. money for running the company.
• Decide what matters most to you before you buy. Really, offsetting any carbon is smart, but to make it more personal, you could stick to what affects you the most. For example, business travelers could offset best by purchasing airline credits.

You should also check with an eco-company watchdog like Clean Air Clean Planet. This organization has an excellent Consumer’s Guide to Carbon Credits (opens in pdf, but very worth the read). You can also look for reviews of carbon offset companies online like at Carbon Offset Reviews or do a search. I always try to look for the negative – so for example, you can type in the name of an offset company and also type “problems” or “scam” and see what pops up.

BONUS: Ten Carbon Offset Providers Explain Why They Do It For Love And/Or Money is a great piece that interviews companies who sell credits; a nice behind the scenes look.

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Blisstree

How To Purchase Carbon Offsets

WHAT IS A CARBON OFFSET?:

Basically, a carbon offset is just like it sounds; it offsets your personal carbon, more indirectly than directly though. You buy a specific amount of offsets from say, a wind energy company and the money you give allows the company to work harder to create cleaner energy, thus offsetting your footprint in a way. If you put up solar panels or wind turbine at your home, you’d be offsetting your own carbon, but in many cases it’s less trouble for people to purchase offsets than make huge changes on their own.

Example: if you buy carbon offset credits from TerraPass, your money goes to cover various types of projects – farm power, landfill gas capture and wind energy. The credit makes up for some of the energy you use.

Wired did a nice little piece that can help you understand carbon offsets and offers a view from the other side. This article covers some good examples of airline credits – i.e. what it would take for a frequent (or even infrequent flier) to offset the emissions of a typical flight. It also covers why calculations for offsets and education about offsets needs to be better, more sound, and more comprehensive.

ARE CARBON OFFSETS REGULATED?:

No, and obviously, this is a problem. It makes it hard for consumers to make smart choices about carbon credits. Any old Joe can set up a program online that says they sell carbon offsets, but it doesn’t make it so.  Also, as noted by Wired (in the above piece) calculations need to be accurate, yet there’s no across the board standard.

Next up – what to do if you’d like to purchase credits – how to choose a company and make sure they’re safe and actually doing good earth-friendly tasks with your money.

Have you ever purchased carbon offsets?

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Blisstree

Are Carbon Offsets for Real?

Last week, former movie star and current California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger officially declared that his state was in a drought and threatened to ration water to cities if conservation efforts were not increased. The New York Times reported:

The declaration comes after the driest California spring in 88 years, with runoff in river basins that feed most reservoirs at 41 percent of average levels. It stops short of a water emergency, which would probably include mandatory rationing.

Efforts to capture water have also been hampered by evaporation of some mountain snowpacks that provide water, an effect, state officials say, of global climate change.

Governor  has stated that addressing California’s water shortage is one of his top priorities while in office.

He also took a step last week to address global warming by adding his support to the TOGETHER anti-climate change campaign, an effort which hopes to demonstrate that individual energy-saving action, when added to the actions of millions of other people, really adds up to savings “for our planet – and your wallet.”

Interested? Go to TOGETHER.com and add your name and your actions to the Togetherizer, a tool that goes live today (June 10) and is going to try to calculate the emissions savings generated by each solution offered by the site and used by its participants.

I, for one, am curious to see how this all add up.

Image: Newscom 

Post from: Blisstree

Can the Governator Use the Togetherizer to Terminate Global Warming?

Teams compete against each other with challenges like “go one week without using any disposable coffee cups” or “unplug your computer every night for one month”. By accepting challenges and incorporating carbon reducing ideas into their daily lives, individuals boost their team efforts while creating a collective effort to cut back on carbon emissions.

The idea came from Massachusetts Sierra Club activists Jason Karas, Stan Ward, Bill Filler and Steve Barrett. Karas wanted to create an fun, interactive and engaging catalyst that would allow consumers to fight global warming so the four environmentalists brainstormed and Carbon Rally was born.

The site is great, easy to use and its free to sign up. Anyone 13 years or older can join, get involved with a team or just peruse the ideas for inspiration. The community is great, lots of team spirit to save the planet.

Just a few months old, Carbon Rally has attracted 1,255 people who have reduced their collective CO2 emissions by over 67.34 tons so far, the equivalent of turning off the electricity of 47 homes for about 1 month! It’s US-based right now, with a Google map of teams and impact, but global rallies are in the works.

Carbon Rally

Post from: Blisstree

Carbon Rally: Team Up on Climate Change!