Want to be Carbon Neutral for a Day?: Brighter Planet's One Day Campaign

Brighter Planet is offering you the chance to be carbon neutral for a day through its One Day campaign. According to Brighter Planet's website:

The One Day campaign is a small way to show your support to fight climate change. For every participant, Brighter Planet will donate 136 pounds of offsets -- the equivalent of one day's worth of CO2 emissions (based on the estimated average American footprint of 24.78 tons). The more people that give the gift of carbon neutrality for one day, the better. Thousands of gift recipients and givers will know that the climate movement is spreading far beyond the typical “environmental” realm and into the norm. All that Brighter Planet asks in return is that you consider conserving during the holidays.

We have been issued 25 certificates. To claim your One Day Carbon Free certificate, visit http://oneday.brighterplanet.com/users/4303/passes/public/GEV-XYZ. Please note that there are only 25 certificates available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Who is Brighter Planet?

Brighter Planet helps people take smarter steps for a healthy environment. With practical, carbon emission reducing solutions for consumers and businesses, Brighter Planet is committed to demonstrating that small, day-to-day actions can make a huge difference for the environment. To date, Brighter Planet members have offset 58 million pounds of CO2. The renewable energy projects they help build in communities across the United States decrease our national dependence on carbon emitting energy sources.

Why carbon offsets?

Carbon offsets play a crucial role in building a sustainable society. Many renewable energy projects are well suited to produce energy and meet stringent standards, but lack sufficient financing. Carbon offsets fill that void by investing in these projects.

What kind of offset projects does Brighter Planet support?

Renewable energy projects in communities across the U.S. decrease our national dependence on carbon-emitting “dirty” energy sources like coal burning power plants. Some are wind power in public school districts or open lands and others are cow power on family farms. They all meet Brighter Planet’s stringent project standards.

Where does conservation fit in to all of this?

The first step to reducing your footprint is to minimize the amount of dirty energy you use. Changes in your everyday life — some simple, others harder — will help. There are lots of ways you can conserve during the holidays and all-year long. While conservation is critical, it’s practically impossible to reduce your personal emissions to zero. You still need a place to live, a way to get to work, food to eat, and clothes to wear. This is where carbon offsets can be of great value.

Colorado Carbon Fund Established

The State of Colorado has just announced the creation of the Colorado Carbon Fund. This is a voluntary carbon offset fund aimed at investing in Colorado community-based projects for clean energy and climate mitigation. The Colorado Carbon Fund is being created by the Governor's Energy Office and expects to be operational by spring 2008.

The Colorado Carbon Fund follows a recent trend of investing in local carbon offset projects rather than investing in carbon offset projects in other parts of the world. The city of San Francisco started their own San Francisco Carbon Fund in 2007.

San Francisco Carbon Fund Announced

San Francisco has become the first U.S. city to create "in-city carbon offsets to meet local carbon reduction goals. Rather than funding replanting tree farms in other hemispheres or investing in alternative power systems on the other side of the planet" the San Francisco Carbon Fund will fund local projects within the city. The project is expected to "support energy efficiency projects and solar panel installations for low-income housing, as well as biodiesel conversion programs that support the conversion of waste into fuel" through nonprofit organizations such as The San Francisco Biofuels Cooperative, GRID Alternatives, and Ecology Action.

"The San Francisco Carbon Fund will begin as a pilot program to offset emissions from municipal air travel, and will be expanded to San Francisco residents, businesses and visitors once the program infrastructure has been established. The fund will also provide City government, residents and businesses information regarding the true costs of carbon intensive activities."

Read the full stories in the San Francisco Chronicle and the California Chronicle.

Toward Oversight of Voluntary Carbon Offsets

Voluntary carbon offsets remain a growing yet unregulated business and two additional efforts are underway to oversee the burgeoning field.

First is the recent announcement of a new Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) for carbon offsets is intended to boost the sector's credibility and help to drive rapid growth in voluntary offsetting. The VCS covers "reductions in all six gases regulated by Kyoto."

"Carbon offsetting is growing rapidly but remains controversial. The VCS aims to counter this by guaranteeing that certified offset projects reduce carbon emissions, and that reductions are measurable, additional, permanent, verified and are not double counted."

"Guarantees made about the VCS include: certified offsets will have environmental benefits, the VCS will stimulate greater innovation and investment in a wider range of low-carbon technologies without compromising environmental integrity, and the public will be able to access information on every VCS-approved offset project."

Second, the Federal Trade Commission has announced they will hold a free public workshop on January 8, 2008 in Washington DC "to examine the emerging market for carbon offsets (i.e., greenhouse gas emission reduction products) and renewable energy certificates, and related advertising claims. The workshop will focus on consumer protection issues in these markets, such as consumer perception of carbon offset and REC advertising claims and substantiation for such claims." A live webcast of the workshop will be available.

Reduce Your Carbon Footprint OR Carbon Offsetting?

Should you reduce your carbon footprint or just buy carbon offsets? Carbon offsetting is popular and is a lucrative business. I've seen credit cards that make donations to offset your carbon usage, I've seen travel companies that allow you to purchase carbon offsets for your travels, but mostly I've seen large corporations purchase carbon offsets. The dilemma is that carbon offsets allow the offenders to pay for the right to continue offending while those who reduce their carbon footprint create more and more room for the offenders. There are, however, circumstances where cleaner alternatives do not exist and carbon offsetting allows these companies to attempt to mitigate their environmental damage. To parody the absurdity of carbon offsets, the humorous CheatNeutral website was created. Check it out: http://www.cheatneutral.com/