Most of you know that my work requires a lot of traveling. What some of you may not know is that I actually buy carbon credits to offset all the flying that I do.
For me, carbon neutrality is important, and I try my best to reduce my carbon footprint when possible.
To the first five people reading this post today, here’s a little holiday gift from me to you: carbon neutrality for the day.
If you claim the gift, Brighter Planet will donate 136 pounds of carbon offsets in your name to help fund renewable energy projects. From their One Day initiative site:
The average American emits 136 pounds of carbon dioxide each day. About 36 pounds come from driving, flying, and other travel. Another 22 pounds come from heating, cooling, and powering our homes. The final 78 pounds come from producing, transporting, and disposing of all the stuff we buy, and from shared services like schools and street lights.
Click on this link and submit your details to redeem the gift.
It may not be much, but one day is a good start. If you’re not in time to redeem my gift of carbon neutrality, you can still do your part by helping support organizations like Brighter Planet that are making a positive impact on our planet.
And of course, by reducing your carbon footprint.
What are you doing every day to reduce your own personal carbon footprint?
Great idea and thanks for sharing it. I’ve redeemed my bit and passed it on to 5 more.
I reduce my carbon footprint by buying local, seasonal food to try and reduce airmiles. I also recycle and compost so less of the household waste is going into landfill. But there is a lot more that I could do and I’m planning to start looking into ways that I can do that.
If your readers are too late they can check out my blog (which is still not widely read as yours!) to redeem some carbon offsets.
What do we do? Recycle in our blue and green bins for one. Use cloth diapers for our toddler.
We buy most of our stuff locally.
Thanks for the gift, Vasta!
I’m glad you’re both paying it forward!
It’s always great to know that people care enough about the planet to try and cut down their carbon footprint. The next step: trying to get everyone else to do the same!
So how do we go about doing that?
Glad u asked Vasta!!!!!
Thinking is the start.
Educating others about the ease and benefit of a “green” lifestyle. It’s the little things that count.
There are many great organizations in our communities that are doing great things. One that I’m close to is called Toronto Green Community. What are they doing now? Well, you can find them every Christmas season at Mountain Equipment Co-op offering Eco-Gift wrapping services!
Live in a building? Talk to your superintendent or property management about recycling and energy solutions. Ask your government reps what their environment policy is and engage with them.
What a fantastic idea. I’ll be reading more about this and will figure out how I can do my share. Thanks for passing this on!
So I’ve personally heard from at least 17 people that have redeemed their carbon neutral day from this post — I guess that “five” number was more of a guideline than a restriction. =)
Lara, I’m glad you liked this. I’m hoping it will help some people remember that they have a bigger carbon footprint than they expect. Awareness is a first step — change is next.
Karim, speaking of change, those are some great ideas. I remember asking our building manager about recycling about a decade ago and he told me that “buildings don’t recycle.” Now, every unit has it’s own blue bin. Glad things have changed, even if they did take a long time to get there.