Obviously the best way to deal with carbon emissions is to reduce them, but sometimes you do need to take that road trip or cross country flight. I live in Manhattan so I don't have a car, but I'd heard that flying can really increase your carbon footprint. When I calculated it, I found out that my share of my flights this year (three long-hauls and a handful of short-hauls) was equal to the carbon output of the average American car.

Feeling guilty, I was happy to stumble across carbon credits as a quick and easy way to balance my travel. By investing in industrial efficiency projects, renewable energy, reforestation, and the like, these services take one pound of CO2 out of the atmosphere for each one that you've released. For a mere $65, I balanced out over six tons of CO2 my flights had released (and I got a cool luggage tag). There are many such services, but I used Terrapass (www.terrapass.com) which offers handy online calculators for car, air travel, and home emissions, and the service comes highly endorsed by the likes of The Sierra Club, Wired Magazine, and Treehugger.com.

Caveat #1: These are typically for-profit services. Whatever percentage goes in their pocket is, to me, a small price to pay for a clean conscience (and troposphere).

Caveat #2: As I said at the beginning, the best way to combat CO2 emissions is not to create them. Please don't go buying a Hummer on the assumption that you can just balance it out with carbon credits later.

reference link: www.terrapass.com

1 Comment

  add a comment

 

jediwright says:

Right on...it's so cheap it's really a no-brainer. Good to make sure though that the company you use is verified by 3rd parties, otherwise your money might not be going to the cause you think it is.

posted 03/12/08 at 01:58 AM

 

add a comment

The Creative Citizen Network: