CarbonFree® Partner A2 Hosting has recently announced they will be donating to Carbonfund.org to plant trees for each web hosting package they sell during the month of June in support of our Million Tree Challenge. Each tree A2 Hosting plants will be matched 2-to-1 by Carbonfund.org, for a total of three trees planted.
The Million Tree Challenge lets organizations and individuals donate to plant trees to help reduce climate change, improve air quality and help preserve the Earth’s delicate ecosystem. Moreover, we are directing current Million Tree Challenge donations to tree planting in Haiti to help reduce floods and landslides in the earthquake-ravaged country. To learn more or donate to the Million Tree Challenge visit: www.carbonfund.org/trees.
A2 Hosting, Inc. is an award winning Linux-based web hosting company providing their customers with 24/7 real support. Their range of services include affordable, developer friendly website hosting for personal homepages up to full service solutions for businesses of all sizes. FutureServe Green Hosting is A2 Hosting’s initiative to protect the environment. Some of A2 Hosting’s green friendly practices, in addition to their partnership with us, include employee telecommuting practices, recycling older equipment for customers with lower resource needs, using low-voltage Xeon processors and using reusable office supplies. To learn more visit, please visit www.a2hosting.com.
Celebrate spring with a special promotion from CarbonFree® Partner Teas Etc.! Teas Etc. is an online retailer of premium loose leaf teas, herbs, and Rooibos. The company is USDA certified to package and distribute organic products and has a complete line of 100% organic teas. They are deeply committed to recycling efforts in their local area, utilize chemical-free cleaning products, and use biodegradable packing peanuts in their shipments. They offset their annual business emissions with Carbonfund.org and offer their customers the option of offsetting the shipping emissions of their order.
Until Monday, March 22nd, Teas Etc. is offering 20% off everything with free shipping on any $60 order or more in the continental U.S. Additionally, they will plant a tree through Carbonfund.org’s Million Tree Challenge campaign for each order! Simply use promo code SPRING during checkout. Visit Teas Etc. at www.teasetc.com.
Carbonfund.org congratulates Teas Etc. for participating in our Million Tree Challenge campaign. Together, we can plant one million trees and help fight global warming! You can learn more about the campaign here.
Our new partner, Clean Air Cab, is a carbon neutral taxi company serving the Phoenix metro area. In addition to purchasing carbon offsets from Carbonfund.org, they go above and beyond and also plant ten trees per month for each cab they have on the road. For October, Clean Air Cab has planted 260 trees! They plan to reach 200 cabs in the next 3 years and plant over 23,000 trees.
Rather than your usual Ford Crown Victoria, their entire fleet is made up of Toyota Priuses getting an estimated 50 miles per gallon. They also prove that going green doesn’t have to be expensive. They have prices that are cheaper than the top three cab companies in Phoenix.
“We believe that going green isn’t something you do – it is something you are,” said Steve Lopez, Founder of Clean Air Cab.
In addition to taking care of the environment, Clean Air Cab has programs that protect their local community. Arizona State University students can call Clean Air Cab’s Free Ride Back program to get a cab to take them home if they have been drinking and can’t drive themselves. In the morning, they call back and a cab will pick them up and take them back to their car for free.
People in the Phoenix, AZ metro area can book a Clean Air Cab taxi online at www.CleanAirCab.com or by calling 480-777-9777.
Check out Carbonfund.org’s CarbonFree® logo on the back of each Clean Air Cab!
The IPCC estimates that deforestation and forest degradation are responsible for 20% of global warming pollution; meaning any comprehensive solution to global warming must incorporate a way to reduce our emissions and keep trees in the ground. Emissions trading schemes like RGGI and CCAR already incorporate provisions that allow for forest based carbon offsets, and in the voluntary carbon market foresty related carbon offsets have been popular for years for a variety of reason. But what does the future hold for trees in the world of carbon offsets? A new survey seeks to shed light on exactly that question.
A survey released by EcoSecurities, Conservation International (CI), ClimateBiz and the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA) entitled The forest carbon offseting survey 2009 overviews the entire background of forest carbon offsets and provides great insights on what the future might hold. The highlights and insights from the survey include:
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Avoided deforestation (91%) and reforestation with native tree species (89%) were rated the most desirable forestry projects in regards to carbon results;
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South America (78%), Africa (71%) and South East Asia (69%) are the three most desirable regions to purchase forest carbon credits;
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The Clean Development Mechanism (64%) and the Voluntary Carbon Standard (60%) were rated as the most desirable standards when purchasing forest carbon offsets;
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Participants highlighted the most important factor when purchasing forest offsets are carbon standards (91%), closely followed by experience and credibility (87%);
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In comparison to Europe (19%), companies in North America (50%) are much more willing to pay up front for carbon credits that will be generated more than five years from now;
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Benefits to local communities (89%) and the global scale of the problem (77%) have been the key motivational factors for adopting offsets from forest carbon projects.
This survey reinforces some of the anecedotal evidence that Carbonfund.org has been compiling from its donors for years. The forest based projects that our donors choose to support have strong community co-benefits, are validated to the highest third party standards (some are validated to two!), and produce real and additional reductions in global warming pollution.
By recognizing deforestation’s role in global warming and understanding the preferences of the people supporting these projects, we can work to develop more projects that meet environmental goals and appeal to donors. Fighting global warming will require a lot of wind turbines and solar pannels, but it will also require us getting dirty, planting trees, and helping communities in the process.
A full 20-25% of global warming is directly attributable to deforestation and forest degradation. This means that any real and comprehensive global warming legislation must include provisions to help stop deforestation if it is serious about reducing carbon emissions. With the Waxman-Markey Bill pacing the way the US appears to be poised to reduce CO2 emissions by up to 83% by 2050. To get there, the bill has provisions for clean energy and energy efficiency steps, but will it address deforestation and forest degradation?
Forest Carbon Portal just released an analysis of the Waxman-Markey Bill entitled, “Strong Push for Reducing Deforestation in 1st Draft US Climate Bill.” This article is suggested reading for anyone looking for a detailed overview of the implications of the Bill for trees.
To quote the article:
International forestry – and in particular reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) credits – may be issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and used as offsets in the US climate regime… the total quantity of offsets allowed each year cannot exceed 2 billion tons…
The bill also includes a provision for the protection of vulnerable groups involved in deforestation offsets. The offset project should give due regard to the rights and interests of local communities, indigenous peoples and vulnerable social groups…
In addition to the cap, there are supplemental pollution reductions with the aim of preserving tropical forests, building capacity to generate offset credits and facilitating international action on global warming. From 2012 through 2025 the EPA will set aside up to five percent of emission allowances to be used to provide incentives to reduce deforestation in developing countries.
On the whole, this climate bill seems to address the fact that trees play a major role in global warming and that any emissions reductions regimes need to address that fact. In the conclusion of the article, it mentions that the provisions included in the legislation will work to prevent the market from being ‘flooded’ with cheap offset credits (thus devaluing other offset options in comparison).
Forest based carbon offsets fight global warming, protect wildlife habitats, and support local communities. By including trees in federal climate legislation, the US will be doing a service to the world that goes far beyond reducing emissions.
Support forest based carbon offsets today; see our reforestation projects by clicking here.
Many of us know the basic principles that underlie the global carbon cycle. Carbon is emitted into the atmosphere through respiration and burning of organic materials and fossil fuels. Much of that same carbon is then absorbed back into the earth through terrestrial and oceanic biological processes. When more carbon is emitted than the earth can naturally absorb, carbon stays in the atmosphere creating the greenhouse effect which causes global warming.
Understanding the carbon cycle is the key to fighting global warming. Collectively, we are going to need to find ways to reduce carbon emissions from carbon sources and continue to protect and enhance carbon sinks. One of the most accessible carbon sinks are trees, with tropical forests absorbing 4.8 billion tons of CO2 a year — or to put it another way, trees are absorbing 18% of total global emissions. As one scientist succinctly states, “we are receiving a free subsidy from nature.”
It is correct to state that trees do represent a free subsidy as we ramp up our efforts to fight global warming, but should we just consider trees’ effects on the carbon cycle to be a bonus or should we actively be promoting trees as part of the fight to stabilize our climate?
Organizations like Carbonfund.org, the UN, Conservation International, the Rainforest Alliance, RGGI, CCAR, the CCBA and so many others advocate for a comprehensive approach to fighting global warming that includes reforestation and avoided deforestation. Through the voluntary carbon market, financial incentives are created that encourage forest preservation and reforestation.
By persevering and expanding forested areas we are not only helping to maintain valuable carbon sinks, but many forest-based projects offer a wide variety of economic and social co-benefits as well.
Fight global warming and support market based initiatives to maintain and expand our natural carbon sinks– forests. Calculate and offset your carbon footprint with Carbonfund.org and choose to support our third-party verified reforestation projects.
CarbonFree® Partner A2 Hosting has recently announced they will be donating to Carbonfund.org to plant trees for each web hosting package they sell during the month of June in support of our Million Tree Challenge. Each tree A2 Hosting plants will be matched 2-to-1 by Carbonfund.org, for a total of three trees planted.