Building on their environmental leadership, Lafarge has made the Wildlife Habitat Council’s (WHC) recent MOU signing with the United States Business Council for Sustainable Development (USBCSD) CarbonFree^®.  Working together, the WHC and USBCSD will help the public and private sectors support sustainability, ecosystem services, wildlife habitat, education and community outreach projects. David Carroll of Lafarge, a partner of both the WHC and the USBCSD, “feels strongly that in order for people to participate in an event they should try to make it sustainable.”  Working with Carbonfund.org, Lafarge calculated and offset the carbon footprint from roundtrip travel, meals, and hospitality for this event.  By taking care of their environmental footprint, Lafarge, WHC and USBCSD continue their leadership in environmental stewardship.

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!

Businesses want global warming solutions. Here at Carbonfund.org, we see that first hand every day with businesses from all over the nation coming to us to find new ways to reduce and offset their carbon footprint. That is why Carbonfund.org was pleased to learn about a new, broad based initiative that launched today - American Businesses for Clean Energy. The purpose of this new group is to create a platform to show the breadth, depth and diversity of support for clean energy and climate legislation among the American business community. As the nonprofit leader in carbon offsets and climate change solutions, Carbonfund.org has registered to join. The group includes Gap Inc. and other businesses around the country. “The House has done its part by passing comprehensive energy and climate legislation,” said Stephen Cowell, chairman and CEO of Conservation Services Group, which helped launch ABCE. “We urge the Senate and the President to do the same.” Their website is designed to empower any business regardless of size or sector to participate in the climate legislation debate. By joining the American Businesses for Clean Energy, businesses can show members of Congress, the media and others that there is strong support for strong climate legislation.

Two free webinars will enable you to learn about two exciting programs we offer- product certification, featuring the first carbon neutral product label in the US-- CarbonFree^® Certified, and our CarbonFree^® Business program. You can sign up for them now: the product certification webinar on Nov. 12, and the business program webinar on Nov. 17. The CarbonFree^® Certified Label has already been used by leading brands, and provides a meaningful, transparent way for you to provide carbon neutral products to your customers. This webinar will provide a helpful overview of the process involved in obtaining our label and making your product carbon neutral. Thursday, November 12th, 2pm ET Speakers: · Caterina Conti - Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel of Anvil Knitwear, Inc., which certified & launched its AnvilRecycled™ apparel CarbonFree^® · Christopher Kral - Senior consultant with WSP Environment & Energy on determining a product's carbon footprint · Emily Pugliese - Senior Climate Change Specialist, CarbonFree^® Product Certification Program of Carbonfund.org on the certification process Join leading companies such as Motorola, Florida Crystals, and Anvil Knitwear which have certified and successfully launched products CarbonFree^®, using the label to impart their environmental commitment, differentiate their brands and help increase sales and customer satisfaction. Our CarbonFree^® Business Program lets your business take charge of its carbon footprint and benefit from Carbonfund.org’s services for CarbonFree^® Partners. The program is an innovative and flexible way to help your business reduce and offset its carbon footprint. Tuesday, November 17th, 2 pm ET Speakers: Karen Kiley - Vice President, Building Operations, Discovery Communications, parent of Discovery Channel, TLC, TreeHugger and other media brands Eric Carlson - President, Carbonfund.org From Fortune 500 companies to small & start-up businesses, the program comprises many of the most innovative, environmentally responsible companies. Remember to sign up for your free product certification and/or business program webinar today.

A survey of some of the nation's top economists has revealed that nearly all of them favor taking action to fight global warming. Specifically, economists agree that global warming threatens the American economy and that cap-and-trade legislation will spur investment and be good for the economy. Of the 144 economists surveyed by New York University of Law, some of the key findings include:

• 84 percent of the economists agreed that climate change “presents a clear danger” to the United States and global economies;
• 80.6 percent agree that a market-based approach of auctioning emissions allowances to limit carbon emissions;
• 94.3 percent said the United States should agree to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through an international climate treaty. 57 percent said the country should make such a commitment even without any agreement;
• 97 percent said that measures to reduce emissions would increase energy efficiency and promote innovation;
• the "social cost" of carbon dioxide - the potential damage of warming on society - ranged from $20 to $100 a ton, with one estimate at $10 million.

What this survey indicates is that consensus regarding the impacts of global warming goes far beyond the scientific community. An economist's agenda is generally to support rational policy that most benefits society. So this survey confirms what many of us have believed for years - that the potential cost of global warming far outweighs the benefits of coordinated actions to reduce emissions. By increasing energy efficiency, businesses and individuals will not only reduce emissions but will also have more money to spend on more important things. Further, by spurring investment in clean energy technologies jobs will be created in strategic growth areas. Moreover, health care costs will be reduced when our air is cleaner - fewer asthma attacks means people are spending less on inhalers and spending more time at work. Support a strong and vibrant economy. Fight global warming now.

As sea levels rise, the picture of a new kind of refugee emerges.  Climate refugees are people displaced by global warming and related environmental disasters. Hundreds of thousands of these refugees have already been displaced from permanently flooded coastal areas in places like Bohla Island in Bangladesh and the Carteret Islands in Papua New Guinea.  The 10,000 Tuvaluans living on the low island atoll of Tuvalu pictured here may be next. But rising sea levels do not only affect these exotic far away places.  Nearly a quarter of the world's population lives in low coastal areas.  Some of the world's great cities like London, Miami, New York, New Orleans, Mumbai, Cairo, Amsterdam, Tokyo and Shanghai are vulnerable to rising sea levels.  According to Elaine Kurtenbach of the Associated Press, Chinese cities are among the largest and most threatened.  In Shanghai, developers seem to ignore this threat, and they are building new infrastructure on the densely populated coasts.  By 2070, experts estimate that nearly 150 million people will be living in areas vulnerable to flooding from rising sea levels.

If you, a family member, or someone else you know is an employee of the federal government, donations can still be made to the Combined Federal Campaign to approved charities. Carbonfund.org is an approved charity of the government’s donations drive. It’s a great way to support our carbon offset projects, in renewable energy, energy efficiency as well as reforestation, located in different areas of the country. Our CFC# is 62681. Make your donation today to fight global warming, and remember to keep us in mind for your future CFC donations. You can learn more about the CFC campaign at www.opm.gov/CFC.

With the Copenhagen UN Climate Change Conference set to begin in about a month, we'll be blogging on developments regarding the conference. Carbonfund.org has been advocating for strong climate legislation by the US to reduce the country's contribution to global warming. In addition, we have educated and outreached on global warming to our supporters as well as audiences to which we have access. Most recently-- we participated in the 350 global day of climate action in Washington, DC. We look forward to continuing our work with other 350 organizers and grassroots organizations. A photo of the day's Circle of Hope in front of the White House, courtesy of Grist, reminds us all that climate change is a global problem, and our country must be a part of the solution. Bookmark our blog, or follow our RSS feed, to keep tabs of developments on global warming and the Copenhagen conference. You can also follow us on social media such as our revamped Facebook fans page and our Twitter page. Visit our blog often for news and information about Copenhagen and other global warming developments! Join in the discussion by submitting your comments to each blog. Let us know what you think about our blog by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Thanks!