Buy carbon offsets.
Here's how it works - for every ton of carbon dioxide you pump into the atmosphere, you invest a specified dollar amount into clean energy projects you believe in, such as:
- Wind farms
- Solar plants
- Biomass facilities
- Methane capture
- Energy-efficient housing
- Education programs
- Lobbying initiatives
- Renewable Energy Credits (RECs)
- Reforestation (i.e., planting new trees)
There's just one catch - deciding which of the seemingly countless carbon offset companies to invest in. Handbook author David de Rothschild has some suggestions:
"A key issue is whether offsets demonstrate "additionality." That is, would a particular clean-energy project or emissions-reducing intiative have occurred without your financial contribution? If so, it's really not an offset."
Unless you have hours on end to spend researching all of your carbon offsetting options, it seems to us the wisest choice to go with one (or all) of the three that de Rothschild recommends in the book - NativeEnergy.com, CarbonNeutral.com or CarbonFund.org (where your investment is tax-deductible).
Just remember de Rothschild's "Bottom line" ...
"... carbon offsets should be used to compensate for that last little bit of greenhouse-gas emissions you can't eliminate any other way. They're a supplement to the effort, not a substitute."
1 comment:
Our average annual carbon footprint is 41 tons. At www.CarbonFund.org, we can offset that for $5.50 per ton. That's just $225.50 a year, all of which is tax-deductible because THIS carbon off-setting company is a non-profit.
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