I Offset My Carbon Footprint Today

Have you seen former vice president Al Gore’s documentary, An Inconvenient Truth? If not, you should. It should be required viewing for all. The fact is, global warming is a serious problem. Most people who ignore think it won’t affect them. It will. Just as much as crime, terrorism, or natural disasters such as hurricane Katrina.

Anyway, after seeing the movie, I was moved to do something about my own carbon footprint. Your carbon footprint is how much carbon dioxide is released into the air every year just by what you do to live and survive. Driving your car. Using electricity and water. How the simple day to day things you do affect the environment.

So I went to ClimateCrisis.net, the website for An Inconvenient Truth, clicked on the link that says “Take Action”, then followed the steps, clicking on “Calculate Your Personal Impact”, then fill out the form about the kind of car I drive and what type and how much energy I use in the home. It turns out I produce 6.65 tons of carbon dioxide a year, and that’s low. A family of 4 with both parents driving to work every day would produce triple that amount.

So then I clicked on the link for “NativeEnergy” and I made a donation to fund wind powered electricity. It was $12 a ton and I bought 7 tons worth, or $84. So for $84, I offset my carbon footprint for the entire year! Pretty reasonable.

Again, I strongly encourage you to take the time to view An Inconvenient Truth. It’s important that everyone understand how they are being affected by global warming and what they can do to help. If we don’t all do our part, we may be facing another “ice age” type extinction and a complete do-over of the planet and its inhabitants.

If you would like to offset your carbon footprint:
http://www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/carboncalculator/

To find out little things you can do every day to improve the environment:
http://www.nativeenergy.com/more_you_can_do.html

Please check out my novel, In Fashion's Web on Amazon.