As I happily clicked through the channels (I tend to be a bit of a channel surfer!) with my newly juiced remote I thought about the significance of the product certification. The reality that these batteries truly are carbon neutral is pretty impressive. Their carbon footprint was neutralized after a detailed product life-cycle assessment that included calculations of the emissions resulting in each phase of the life of the product (including raw material extraction, manufacturing, distribution and retail, use, disposal and recycling), and reducing the emissions. The life-cycle assessment is done by a third-party consultant, in accordance with Carbonfund.org’s product certification protocol.

Further, by purchasing a CarbonFree® Certified product you are supporting some pretty awesome, third-party validated carbon reduction projects. In Venom’s case they chose to support our Return to Forest reforestation project. Validated by the Rainforest Alliance to the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standards with Gold Distinction, the Return to Forest Project is helping to reforest as well as reconnect critical biological corridors along Nicaragua’s Pacific coast. The project also brings economic opportunities to local communities while sequestering about 170,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Venom’s Eco Alkaline batteries are progressive, high quality consumer batteries. Plus, they’re carbon neutral! To learn more about the batteries or about Venom Power, visit: www.venom-group.com.

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13 days til Valentine’s Day!

Impress your sweetie this Valentine’s Day with a thoughtful, green gift from CarbonFree® Partner Soul Flower.  Soul Flower is a retail mail order and online store that focuses on clothing and eco-friendly goods for the entire family. A “lifestyle” store with an emphasis on products that are made from organic cotton or hemp, the clothing and goods that come from Soul Flower are primarily from Fair Trade^TM companies, made in cooperatives, or are from small independent businesses in the USA.  They have been a CarbonFree® Partner since 2006 and have worked with us during that time to offset the emissions related to their business operations by supporting our renewable energy projects.

Soul Flower offers everything from funky clothing for women and men to cool duds for little buds. My recommendation?  Go for one of their organic printed tees or hip hats.  For more great gift ideas, or to check out their goods for yourself, visit: www.soul-flower.com.

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The Tengchong Conservation Carbon Project has had a positive effect on its surrounding environment, such as inhibiting the growth of invasive weed species, helping improve the local water quality and reduce erosion. Additionally, the project area is providing habitat for about 400 bird species and more than 150 mammals, including leopards, Malayan sun bears, and China’s only remaining Bengal tiger population.

The project is the first forest-based project to be validated to the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standard with Gold Distinction. To learn more about Carbonfund.org’s projects, please visit www.carbonfund.org/projects.

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Today is the 6^th anniversary of when Carbonfund.org was registered as a 501(c)(3). And, five days from now is our daughter Renee’s 6^th birthday. Yes, fall 2003 was busy for the Carlsons, but it was all intertwined. Eric had long worked on energy efficiency and his interest in renewable energy as a way to solve climate change, but he saw no sign of the breakthrough necessary to really solve the problem. Seeing our beautiful Sonja born in Fall 2001 made the matter personal and urgent. What would happen to our child if global warming continued on its threatening march? Would we be able to say to her that we did what we could to stop it?

Carbonfund.org resulted from three observations:

1)      Acid rain, a former environmental urgency, had been solved primarily from a cap-and-trade on SO2;

2)      Individuals and businesses were already taking steps to reduce their CO2 emissions through conservation and energy efficiency and through the Chicago Climate Exchange; and

3)      Dramatic legislation to solve the problem was nowhere on the horizon.

We wanted to provide individuals and businesses an affordable way to understand and neutralize their own carbon footprint.

Above  is the banner to our first website, which was put up in January 2004. A few months later we had the moxie to start a 100,000 metric ton challenge, which given the $3200 we raised in 2004, took a little while to attain.

But we did.  And then some.

Today, thanks to our early supporters to whom we had a lot to prove, but who gave us legitimacy and voice, and to those who have joined us ever since, we celebrate that we are offsetting over 5 billion pounds (over 2,260,000 metric tons) of CO2 and our relationship with more than 450,000 individuals and 1,200 businesses to build a greener future. We are also excited that national brands, such as Motorola and Domino Sugar have adopted our CarbonFree^® Product Certification, making their products carbon neutral from start to finish and that we have helped in preserving or growing trees in Nicaragua, Louisiana, Brazil and China, covering an area over 8 times the size of Central Park.

We have also been proud of our wonderful workforce committed to transforming the way in which people think of, use, and purchase energy, or “reduce what [we] can, and offset what [we] can’t.”

While we are not yet at our original goal of moving “toward a zero carbon world,” we have shown that carbon reductions can happen at reasonable cost and can invigorate the economy and that people are willing to make the changes to get there, even during serious economic times.

The good news is that with all of us working together, we are having an effect. Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute wrote in the September 20 Washington Post that US CO2 emissions are down 9% over the last two years and continue to drop this year. For the first time, we are showing that we can reduce our climate impact.

Together with our supporters, Carbonfund.org will make more investment in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and forest-based projects and educate individuals and businesses on what they can do.

In addition, we all need to press our leaders for national change. This session, Congress will be considering that dramatic legislation we dreamed of so long ago. Carbon offsetting has helped us to see it. Those of us who have led the fight against climate change need to join our voices and add more to get the Waxman-Markey bill passed. Without our individual and national action, it will be hard for any kind of substantial international climate change treaty to happen.

This is how it works. Through realizing a private dream of starting an organization or taking personal action, every individual can say that we did what we could to stop it.

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Third-party standards, verification and auditing are the hallmarks of real and high-quality offsets. The key question about a carbon offset is: Is it real, and who says so? Carbon offset providers should offer, and purchasers should look for, offset projects that are third-party verified to the highest international standards and project portfolios that are third-party audited. The annual audit should also be made publicly available.

As for cap-and-trade, which is the mechanism to reduce emissions in climate legislation such as the recently passed bill in the House of Representatives, Carlson said, “A cap-and-trade system promotes the most cost-effective carbon reductions, whether internally or externally. Cap-and-trade allows us to tackle climate change in the most cost-effective and fastest way possible.”

As the goal of climate legislation is to reduce emissions, where the reductions take place isn’t important, but that they occur. Like the acid rain experience years ago which used a market-based approach successfully, cap-and-trade will reduce emissions sustainably, equivalent to a 2 to 3 percent reduction per year to achieve the over 80% reductions that the country’s aiming for.

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Get your twitter mosaic here.

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“We work with bands and nonprofits that strive to have a true, positive impact on the world,” said Dan Porras, Founder and CEO of Planetwize. “We are very pleased to offer Mojave’s awesome new album to our users, and to make it easy for the band to support Carbonfund.org through our platform.” The commitment to the environment runs deep for the band. “I spent months trying to find the most environmentally friendly way to produce the CD,” Mojave’s Paul explained. As a result, Crow’s Funeral is packaged in FSC-certified paper, printed with soy ink, and sealed in biodegradable overwrap.

Carbonfund.org is thrilled to be partnering with both Planetwize and Mojave and are very appreciative of their support of our mission. You can preview tracks from Crow’s Funeral and download the album by clicking here. Starting next month, our friends to the North can catch up with Mojave on their fall tour by checking out their tour dates.

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The NBTA’s commitment to greening their signature event goes well beyond offsetting, as they have incorporated several eco-friendly initiatives into this year’s Convention. The commitment to reducing their impact includes creating fewer printed materials and ensuring that these materials, such as the Convention Program & Exposition Guide, are printed on recycled paper using vegetable-based inks by a Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified printer.

In selecting The San Diego Convention Center as the host of this year’s event, the NBTA made a very green choice for the Convention. The San Diego Convention Center has installed an energy efficient heating and cooling system, lighting, and kitchen upgrades that have resulted in savings of almost 3 million kWh annually. Recycling at the facility has diverted 24% of the total waste and a new food composting program will divert 260 tons of food annually. Leftover Convention items, such as surplus furniture and computers will be donated to local schools or social services. San Diego is also one of the “10 most walkable U.S. cities,” which helps reduce the need for driving while in the area. The San Diego Convention Center is connected to several hotels with easy access to the San Diego Trolley and buses ─ making it a great “green” host for the NBTA Convention.

We salute the NBTA for undertaking a comprehensive initiative to green the 2009 Convention. By reducing what they can, and offsetting what they can’t, the NBTA is demonstrating excellent leadership to its members and sponsors. If you are attending the 2009 NBTA Convention, please stop by and say hello to the Carbonfund.org team by visiting us at booth #1346!

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When shopping for a rental car, be sure to look into Avis’ ECO-RIDE fleet, featuring the Toyota Prius, Nissan Altima, and Ford Escape hybrid vehicles. All three offerings are EPA certified SmartWay™ vehicles and have proven to be amongst the best environmental performers. Driving on unfamiliar roads is an easy way to get lost and Avis’ where2® GPS Navigation system can help keep you on the right path to ensure you take the most direct and fuel-efficient route possible. Additionally, the Avis eToll system allows you to use automated toll collection lanes, the use of which can help cut tailpipe emissions greatly.

Best of all, Avis Budget Group and Carbonfund.org have partnered to provide you with a way to offset the emissions from your rental car. By clicking here, you can offset your rental for one day, one week, or one month. We know you can’t always avoid driving to get where you need to go this summer, so we hope you’ll join Avis and Carbonfund.org to “Reduce What You Can, Offset What You Can’t” for your travels.

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Alto Mayo Forest Carbon Project, Peru

The Alto Mayo forest in Northern Peru, an area of high biodiversity, is under threat from encroachment, disorganized settlement, illegal logging and the presence of the nearby Northern Interoceanic Highway. Conservation International, with support from German developers GTZ and local governments, is working towards reducing deforestation by planting native species, negotiating conservation agreement with the locals and expanding tree cover and carbon stocks through the watershed. The project will also serve as an input to the development of a national Peruvian strategy on reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD).

*Area: Tree planting in the sub-watershed area of 30,000 hectares.
*Community: Restore water supply, promote agro forestry system
*Biodiversity: Protects threatened species yellow-tailed woolly monkey (Oreonax flavicuada) and Andean titi monkey (Callicebue oenanthe).

The Nhambita Community Carbon Project, Mozambique
Envirotrade has developed a business model using the sale of carbon offsets to support the conservation and management of existing forests and the planting of new ones.

Envirotrade’s flagship Nhambita project has worked with communities for the past six years to rehabilitate and manage the forests on their land and introduce new, sustainable farming practices, which have had a dramatic effect on crop yields such as cashews and fruits, and provide healthy livelihoods for about 1,300 families.
*Area:57,000 hectares
*Community: Generate alternative income source, diversify smallholder production systems, support natural resources management, and provide appropriate technical information for sustainable farming.
*Biodiversity: Prevent loss of species habitat due to deforestation, loss of wildlife to hunting, fragmentation, and destabilization of the micro ecosystem.

Kakamega Forest Again Project, Kenya

Making Connections is a company devoted to promoting the environmental basis of livelihoods. The Forest Again Project will reforest biologically rich, yet threatened rainforest in Kenya, and build the capacity of a local community organizatio to help local people develop non-timber sources of income.
*Area: 500 hectares with intention to eventually expand up to 2000 hectares.
*Community: Generate jobs related to reforestation, and fund the expansion of Kakamega Environmental Educational Program (KEEP) activities that include developing HIV/AIDS health programs, and conservation and tourism education
*Biodiversity: Corridors building between the fragmented forest will facilitate mobility for source population and genetic dispersal resulting in source populations and genetic dispersal, both of which help conserve biodiversity.

The support provided by Hyundai to these forest projects sets an example of corporate social responsibility (CSR), and encourages more companies to consider forest offsetting options that fight global warming, provide “green shoots of hope” to local communities and restore ecological balance.

(Image Credits: Conservation International, Lily Rodriguez/GTZ)

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