I Just Offset (some of) My Greenhouse Gas Emissions
I spent Friday afternoon at a meeting on Planetary Health. It was interesting. But mainly terrifying. As we all know there is a long, tragic and growing list of environmental disasters and ecological collapse happening right now. And it makes for very grim listening when it is reported in one hit ranging from melting permafrost to dying reefs. Did you know there was a forest fire on Greenland this year?!
Offsetting your Greenhouse Gases can help protect habitat for species like the Diana Monkey
I was also reminded me that I wanted to start offsetting my greenhouse emissions from flights. This was something Andrew Balmford posted about a couple of months ago. And it really is as easy as Andrew said: it took me about 3 minutes to calculate the tonnes of CO2 a few recent and forthcoming flights will generate and then make an equivalent donation to help protect the wonderful Gola Rainforest. It is only a very small gesture of course, but as Andrew said, at $10 for each tonne of CO2 we offset, it is a tiny fraction of the cost of a trip. I am committing to do this every time I fly.
If every eco-traveller. let alone every airline passenger, followed it would really start to make a difference. Please spread the word.
Jon
8 Comments
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Morten Joergensen
Hi Jon.
Super good to hear. I have been saving Balmford’s post in order to get back to him – but maybe even better ask you. One question I have is – how choose? Why Gola rainforest? Jut a random pick out of so many places that one could support? Or is there anything that particularly speaks for that rainforest and that project? I’ve / we’ve been offsetting for a few years, but we are always looking for ways to spend the money better, i.e. a project and location where the money can have a real positive impact. Any comment would be much appreciated!
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Jon Hall
That’s a good question Morten. Yes there are many worthwhile projects I know but I think Gola is a great choice because a) There is a reputable organisation involved so I am optimistic the money will actually be used to protect it; b) Its a wonderful place and hectare by hectare protects a large proportion of what is left of an entire ecosystem and many great mammals; c) the place is desperately poor and hardly visited so every $ will have a bigger impact there than in many places. That’s my thinking anyway. Jon
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Charles Foley
I think Jon’s last comment is particularly important. There are plenty of places which are now setting up off-setting programs, but there are some areas for instance in war torn countries that are never going to receive the number of tourists they need to make the protected area viable, and in such cases carbon offsets are really the only option.
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Pietro Sandini
Jon, Charles,
I wanted to thank you for all the support you are tabling for Gola Rainforest National Park on behalf of all the field team, and the 122 communities we work with. Reading these posts really charges our batteries and helps us be even more proud of what we do.
We solemnly promise to keep up the Conservation & Development efforts in and around this beautiful and unique forest!
Thank you once more for caring and shouting out..
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Matt Brady
Another thing that one can do (at least here in the US – there are probably similar programs elsewhere) is to buy renewable energy offsets on your energy bill. I’ve just recently learned about Arcadia Power (https://www.arcadiapower.com/), and it seems like a good way to easily and cheaply make a difference in your every day life.