Why Not Carbon Negative?

Most of the discussion today on reducing your carbon foot print focuses on trying to live a carbon neutral lifestyle.  I have recently read a little book about John Wesley, who developed a philosophy for his life based on three simple rules: do no harm, do good, and stay in love with God.  I thought about how this applies to reducing my carbon footprint and I decided that maybe stopping at carbon neutral is not good enough.  I certainly agree that living carbon neutral would fit with the "do no harm" rule, but does it go far enough to "do good"?  Maybe we need to strive for carbon negative to "do good" and impact the world in a positive way with our own carbon footprint.  Either way, here are some products and ideas that are carbon negative.

Guyot Designs has two different products that they sell with enough carbon offsets to create a carbon negative product.  You can visit their site here.  The two featured products are a stainless steel reusable water bottle and a set of lightweight camping utensils.  A resusable water bottle is great in so many ways.  If you aren't happy with the quality of tap water in your area, find a good filter.

A UK based suit maker has a new line that comes with enough offsets to cover the manufactering and life of the suit three times.  So, with this product you get enough offsets to offsets two other people's suits as well as your own.  You can visit their site here.  Who said fashion can't be green?

Fiji Water is now promoting a new concept where they are pledging to reduce their carbon footprint by 25% immediately, use 50% renewable energy by 2010, and offset 120% of the remainder of their carbon footprint starting in 2008.  This does two things, it incentivizes the company to make further reductions in their carbon emmissions, which will decrease the expense they incur purchasing offsets, and it gets their customers involved in reducing CO2 emissions when they purchase the products.  You can visit their site here.

Think about your approach to reducing your carbon footprint.  Try to approach it in a way that is both long term and incentivizes you to make further reductions.  Those of us that are concerned can only make an impact on the lives of others by doing more than our fair share.

Replanting the Trees

In an effort to 'offset' my Christmas tree, I did a little research on the sites that were available to do that. I don't have a place to plant it myself, so someone's got to be out there doing it, right? So here is the summary of my reserach:

• At www.plantatreeusa.com, the basic tree package is $54, which entitles you to one tree, a webpage with a picture of your tree and the name of a loved one, plus an organic certificate.


• For only $15, the Arbon Day Foundation (www.arbonday.org) will send you 10 trees that are 6"-12" tall and a membership card. And unlike me, they know what kind of trees grow near your home. Or they'll send them to someone with a greener thumb that you.


• For the savers, spend $1 at www.plantabillion.org/ and you will have funded at tree in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. They're at 1.8 million already

There are lots more options, these are just representative samples of what's out there. Where you plant the tree doesn't matter too much with regard to the carbon emissions and global warming, but you might enjoy it more if it's closer to home. I think we'll join the Arbon Day Foundation and send our trees to someone who can love them better than we can...

The Christmas Tree Debate

My girlfriend and I trimmed our first tree last weekend- yet before making our purchase, we wondered whether buying a real tree or a fake tree was better for our environment, and which carbon footprint was smaller. Granted, not putting up a tree at all would have been the most carbon neutral effort, yet I already grumble about the madness of the holidays, so I had to temper my grench-ness on this one.
An argument can be made for fake trees, because they are re-used annually and thus don’t pile up as waste every New Year's Eve. But when they do end up in the landfill, they will be there for hundreds of years, leaking polyvinyl chloride (PVC), one of the most environmentally offensive forms of non-renewable, petroleum-derived plastic, into the earth. And, they're not nearly as fun as a real tree. But that real tree was growing a few days ago, breathing in Carbon Dioxide and breathing out oxygen. But maybe it wouldn't have been there if it's dad knew I wouldn't be buying it...
San Francisco has a cool program- you buy a potted tree, have it delivered to your house, decorate it, sing carols to it, and after Christmas the city will pick it up and plant it. What a green way to celebrate Christmas! Click link for article:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/15/MNGADG8GN81.DTL

Well, we bought a 6' douglas fir, because the little guy looked cold outside and we thought it needed a good home to live out its final days. We'll drink some egg nog by it, and then make sure it rests peacefully as mulch in someone's garden. And we're committed to planting a tree to take it's place- more on that next time.

Reducing your Footprint... Go Old Fashioned!

So I ran across a little book called "How to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint" (Yarrow) while I was killing time in the mall this weekend- the well-designed cover caught my eye. I'm always on the lookout for low-hanging fruit that will help reduce my footprint: last week, I replaced two incandescent light bulbs with CFL bulbs in the kitchen, and I am constantly turning off the A/C that my roommate runs all day long! So as I picked up this book, I randomly thumbed to a page discussing lawn care- rake leaves instead of blowing them, use an old fashioned mower instead of a power mower, compost the organic waste...

Well, I don't really have a yard of my own, which means that I can't reduce my footprint by taking these particular suggestions. The good news, though, is that my footprint is already smaller because of that fact!

So as I'm looking to buy a home in the near future, I have two options, go yardless, or go old fashioned!

A Car Free Day... Brilliant!

My significant other is in Brussels on business this week and reported back that Sunday there were no cars to be seen downtown. This took her by surprise, but upon more research, hundreds of cities (mostly in Europe), including London and Paris observed the car-free day yesterday or today. Like many Americans, I am behind the curve but eager to learn about initiatives to help our population reduce our carbon emissions- this particular event strikes me as a brilliant way to help people (or force them, rather) to consider an alternative to their cars. Granted, there are lots of logistical issues to consider, and most people will go back to their normal routine the day after, but maybe they'll start to think a little greener than before.

A Carbon Free Iceland?

I went to a talk on the alternative energy progress in Iceland- the country has invested heavily in geothermal energy technologies, hydrogen, and according to the speaker, only has to import oil/coal to support 21% of their economy. This kind of progress is incredible, and has provided the Icelandic people one of the highest standards of living on the planet... The amount of carbon emissions from the type of renewable energies that Iceland uses are fractions of the emissions that coal and petroleum emit- I would venture to say there are many icelandic people who have achieved A Carbon Free Day for themselves. Congrats!

What is A Carbon Free Day?

What is it, exactly? I suppose carbon free will mean something different to everyone- and I want opinions from every perspective to help shape our definition of A Carbon Free Day- that's the reason for this blog!

If I ask others to weigh in, it's only fair that I begin: To me, A Carbon Free Day is a day when I make a concerted effort to reduce my carbon emissions, even with some mild disruptions to the lifestyle to which I am accustomed, and it's a day in which I choose to offset the emissions that I can't eliminate through carbon offsets. I look forward to sharing stories of the changes I've made with you, the successes and the failures alike. A Carbon Free Day - for me, for many - it's a work in progress...

What is A Carbon Free Day to you?