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Want to be a Good Steward of the Outdoors? Stay Clean Responsibly With Action Wipes

Good outdoors hygiene doesn’t have to be disposable. Action Wipes help you clean and conserve.

What are Action Wipes? Picture traditional baby wipes, but with a crucial difference: they’re reusable. They’re extra big and extra thick so you don’t have to throw them away after one use. And when the time comes to send them on the way, the fabric they’re made of is recyclable.

And of course, Life Elements, maker of Action Wipes, is offsetting its business through the CarbonFree Partner Program. Offsetting was always a key component of the Action Wipes plan. “For us it’s important we’re offsetting what we’re doing,” Martha Van Inwegen, founder of Life Elements, said. “We chose Carbonfund.org because it’s an easy, simple and cost effective way to get involved and do our part. I didn’t have to reinvent the wheel. The program was already in place.”

How to Be a Part of the Solution By Doing What You Do Anyway

Last year, Americans spent over $966 billion on new consumer goods—70% of our gross domestic product.

Imagine if even a small percentage of that went to carbon reduction projects—millions of trees could be planted. Economies of scale could drive the price of solar and wind power below coal, leading to a market revolution. Instead of worsening the problem, our consumer society could help fund solutions.

This vision is a little closer to reality thanks to Carbonfund.org partner myFREEoffsets.com. myFREEoffsets.com invites you to help solve this problem by continuing to do something you probably do anyway: shop online.

Iler Planning Group Creates the Green City of the Future

When you picture a booming urban area, grey, not green, is probably the color that springs to mind. Carbonfund.org partner Iler Planning Group (IPG) wants to change that.

These days, cutting-edge communities plan for a greener future. In Florida, where global warming poses an imminent threat through rising sea levels, severe storms, and drought, IPG is leading the charge by helping communities plan for sustainable growth.

Sweet Dreams: Carbonfund.org Partners With The Center for the New American Dream

This month, Carbonfund.org joined The Center for a New American Dream‘s Responsible Purchasing Network.

The Center for a New American Dream helps Americans consume responsibly to protect the environment, enhance quality of life, and promote social justice. Its Responsible Purchasing Network (RPN) is a national network of procurement-related professionals dedicated to socially responsible and environmentally sustainable purchasing. RPN promotes and practices responsible purchasing by identifying best practices, developing effective purchasing tools, educating the market and utilizing its collective purchasing power to maximize environmental stewardship, protect human health and support local and global sustainability.

For those of us who aren’t procurement-related professionals, The Center for the New American Dream’s website is worth a visit for its treasure trove of guidance to making responsible, green purchase. For instance, check out the guide to being a Conscious Consumer, or take a pledge to break the bottled water habit.

You’ve Offset Your Carbon Footprint. Now What? Carbonfund.org Social Networking!

Want to feel more connected with the global warming movement? Want to forge connections with other donors and join in on the conversation about how you’re reducing your footprint? Carbonfund.org is harnessing the power of social networking for a good cause.

We’re in the middle of a video release party and you’re invited! Each Monday, we’re posting a new video including footage from our projects, videos on how carbon sequestration works, and more. You can even offset your footprint while you click through green videos, thanks to our partner GoGreenTube. Or subscribe to our YouTube page.

Other ways to connect include our Flickr page, where you can view the latest on-site photos from our projects. If you use Facebook, fan the Carbonfund.org page and be sure to join our cause! Myspace more your thing? Friend us!

Our goal is to jump start the discussion about global warming and the actions we can all take and to highlight innovative projects and technologies that are so important in solving this global problem.

Where Your Money Goes: Renewables

Editor’s note: Over the next several issues of MyClimateMinute, we’ll take a look at the projects funded by our donors. First, we’ll start with overviews of the different types of projects supported by Carbonfund.org. This week: renewable energy projects.

Renewable energy refers to wind energy, methane capture, solar, geothermal and other clean energy sources. Energy generated from clean sources like these reduces the need to generate that same energy from dirty sources like coal or gas.

Developing clean energy projects isn’t as cheap as building new coal power plants, at least not yet. That’s why it’s important for project developers to have access to additional streams of revenue other than the electricity they get to sell. Carbonfund.org donors help drive investment toward clean energy projects, lowering their cost and hastening the market transformation to a clean energy future.

Carbonfund.org supports many renewable energy projects, including the Hancock County Wind Energy Center, SunEdison Solar Projects, New Bedford Landfill Methane, North Country Landfill Methane, and Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center. For a complete list, visit Carbonfund.org’s Projects page.

Think Hosting a Website Can’t Be Done in an Eco-responsible Way? Think Again.

Websites run on powerful computer servers that use massive amounts of electricity. Though energy efficiency should be a high priority for hosting companies—after all, it saves them money-—finding a company who operates their servers in an environmentally-responsible way is not always easy.

A2 Hosting makes it easy. Its FutureServe Green Hosting initiative was created to provide environmentally responsible website hosting in order to protect and improve ecological conditions for current and future generations. In addition, the experts at A2 Hosting have tips for MyClimateMinute readers to reduce their computer usage carbon footprints.

How to Find Sustainable Ingredients For Your Natural Product Line

Manufacturers of natural products are more conscious than ever of the carbon footprint of the raw materials they purchase for production. Natural ingredient manufacturer I&W Research Inc. sets itself apart by integrating sustainability into every part of its manufacturing process.

I&W Research Inc. manufactures berry seed oils and powders for the organic cosmetic, tea, functional food and animal health industries. I&W’s most recent sustainability initiative involves partnering with Carbonfund.org through the CarbonFree Shipping Program. I&W donates to Carbonfund.org’s portfolio of greenhouse gas reducing projects, to offset the carbon emissions from the shipping of its products.

Carbonfund.org and Avis Announce New Alliance

Carbonfund.org and Avis Budget Group, parent company of Avis Rent A Car and Budget Rent A Car, have announced an alliance through which Avis Budget Group will offer its corporate and retail customers a variety of carbon offset options to minimize the environmental impact of their vehicle rentals.

The new program will offer Avis and Budget customers flexible options to offset based on the length of their rental. For a $1.25 Daily offset, Carbonfund.org will offset 300 pounds of CO2. A Weekly for $5 will offset 1200 pounds, while a Monthly offset will cost $20 and will offset 4800 pounds.

The alliance with Avis is the latest in a string of partnerships between Cabonfund.org and nationally-recognized transportation brand names, including JetBlue, Amtrak, Orbitz, and others. “We are very pleased to work with a company such as Avis Budget Group, which is extremely conscious of its environmental impact,” said Carbonfund.org Executive Director Eric Carlson. “Together we will be able to make a positive impact on the future of the environment and set a standard for offsetting emissions for rental cars.”

Carlson will take advantage of the carbon offset option when he travels to Los Angeles next week for the National Business Travel Association Conference on an all-CarbonFree trip. His trip will be covered in posts to the Carbonfund.org blog.

“At Avis Budget Group, we are very concerned with how our business affects the environment,” said Ronald L. Nelson, chairman and chief executive officer, Avis Budget Group. “Teaming up with Carbonfund.org will help us advance our efforts to reduce the environmental impact of our fleet.”

The alliance with Carbonfund.org adds to the many environmental initiatives of Avis Budget Group, which is already partnering with its corporate customers to assist them with their individual carbon reduction targets. The company is also creating a formal environmental management system (EMS), which is being designed to measure and manage environmental aspects of the Company’s operations in accordance with International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001 guidelines. The EMS will cover air, water and land quality issues, landfill contributions, resource depletion and conservation, solid/liquid waste, odor/noise emissions and other environmental aspects.

Avis Budget Group also offers its customers a variety of vehicle choices for reducing environmental impact. Out of a fleet of more than 375,000 vehicles, 63 percent of the fleet is US EPA SmartWay Certified and 25 percent of the fleet is rated at 32 miles per gallon or better. The fleet also includes a large selection of gas/electric hybrid vehicles for rent in compact, full-size and small SUV car classes.

Carbonfund.org Blog Presents How We Drive Now: Tips and Analysis

To accompany the launch of the Avis and Budget rental program, The Carbonfund.org Blog will offer a series of posts discussing the current state and future of driving in America. Topics will include:

eTolling: What is this smart new idea, and how is Avis leading the pack on promoting it?
Can GPS devices save energy? At least one environmental thought leader thinks so.
Fuel prices: will they every go back to where they were? Also: the cost of fuel vs. the cost of offsets.
Smart driving tips to help you make the most of every gallon.

Visit The Carbonfund.org Blog for these and frequently updated coverage and commentary on carbon offsets, global warming, and other environmental topics.

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