“Climate Change.”
“Carbon Credits.”
“Cap & Trade.”
“Carbon Footprint.”
“Greenhouse Gas.”
Confused?
Don’t be! There are a lot of buzzwords flying around lately when it comes to the science and business of Climate Change.
In our process of becoming one of the first carbon-neutral ad agencies in North America (And certainly the first carbon-neutral agency in Arizona), I asked our consultant, Brendan Cook, Sustainability Director at EcoAid, to help clear the air on carbon offsetting.
Brendan Cook, Sustainability Director at EcoAid
To determine your “carbon footprint” means to measure the amount of greenhouse gases that you or your organization is adding to the atmosphere. The term was coined from carbon dioxide, the primary human contributor to climate change. CO2 is a greenhouse gas, which means it traps solar heat in our atmosphere ‘changing’ our climate’s typical patterns.
Whenever you use energy created from fossil fuels, you’re generating carbon emissions. To offset your carbon emissions, or become carbon-neutral, simply means to neutralize your part in the polluting of our environment.
Since carbon dioxide emissions are the principal human cause of climate change, carbon offsets are the key to promoting a greener environment. A carbon offset represents the carbon dioxide emissions accounted for in a certified project.
Like EcoAid, Park&Co’s goal is to show that environmental activism is smart, proactive and part of a good business model. That’s why they are actively offsetting their office and travel emissions by supporting the Michigan Reforestation Project to compensate for their part in climate change and promote business responsibility.
To determine your own carbon footprint and how you can shrink it, visit EcoAid’s Carbon Calculator at www.ecoaidnow.com.
Brendan leads EcoAid’s Sustainability team, working with businesses and organizations to improve their environmental performance, carbon reduction, efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
He has worked with sustainability issues ranging from renewable biogas in Vietnam, ecosystem assessments in Greece, sustainable business in Scandinavia, ecotourism in Sweden, interned with the Stockholm Environment Institute on renewable energy projects, and worked in rainwater harvesting in Tucson.
Tags: Cap & Trade, carbon footprint, Carbon Offsetting, EcoAid
Posted in: Carbon Offsetting, Corporate Enviro Causes, Sustainable Marketing
Okay, I’ll bite.
CO2 is an EXTREMELY small percentage of “greenhouse gases”, but nevertheless it gets a lot of attention.
Many other fossil fuel-type emissions result in other gases like CO (carbon monoxide), which I don’t recall seeing as a significant contributor to greenhouse gases.
I say more power to anyone striving to reduce negative impacts on Mother Nature, but I have a sense we will see in the future that this carbon-credit racket is nothing more than a racket.
I hope you’re wrong and that it’s not a racket. At least it has people thinking and offers a more tangible concept to how ALL business need to work in a cleaner, less consumptive, mindset. There is just soooooo much waste in what we do.
Waste can be defined many ways. Some would claim Mt. St. Helens wasted a lot of trees, wildlife, Spirit Lake, etc.. Avalanches, mudslides and flooding has occurred for millions of years before the SUV – you saw it first hand hiking the Grand Canyon. Mother Nature tends to deal with these wastes fairly well in my opinion.
Since the jury is still very much out on human’s impact on global warming adn cooling cycles, many people get an adverse reaction to sustainability and green building efforts because they beleive it’s being done for the wrong reasons (i.e. to stop glaciers from melting).
Carbon credit trading is a racket, and should not be associated with individuals doing all they can to minimize their negative impact on Mother Nature.
Pat, you have a right to be skeptical. This is entirely new territory, and a person can’t help be leery of the potential con artist around the corner, and/or the authenticity of any environmental program. I thought this article was interesting to shed a bigger light on the trends in the carbon credit industry: http://tinyurl.com/m7eudd
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