Upset? (over your carbon habits)
Offset!

A lot of us want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but face challenges in doing so. Biking to work is a nice concept, unless it’s a long way or there aren’t bike lanes. Downsizing living space may be a goal, but it’s a tough time to sell an existing home. Going solar would be cool, but there’s the up front cost. Would give up dairy, but can’t do without ice cream. 

Don’t be upset—offset!
While not losing sight of these other goals, one option is to offset the typical US person’s 20 tons of carbon by turning to a millennia-old ally in keeping the carbon balanced—trees.

Through our If a Tree Falls…, program, NCP is currently reforesting or preserving forests in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Purchasing the land costs around $200 an acre; reforesting deforested sections costs $1 per tree. Since an acre of rainforest sequesters (absorbs) around five tons of CO2 per year, helping us save rainforest can help YOU balance the carbon released for your food, housing and transportation. And you’ll get a cool certificate!

Take your pick! Choose to offset for yourself—or someone you know who could use an offset or two!

See bottom of page for background info and references

$2 = plants two rainforest trees, absorbing 100 pounds of CO2 per year
—offsets an hour per day of video gaming OR an hour per day of HD TV
$15 = plants 15 trees, absorbing 750 pounds CO2
—offsets a weekly fast food meal OR the difference between a desktop and a laptop computer
$20 = preserves 1/10 acre of rainforest, absorbing 1000 pounds CO2
—offsets those extra 5 minutes in the shower every day OR a roundtrip airplane flight of 3000 miles OR a plasma TV turned on for five hours per day
$40 = preserves 1/5 acre, absorbing 2000 pounds CO2
—offsets non-local vegetables purchased in a year OR the yearly trash generated by two people
$50 = preserves one-fourth acre, absorbing 2500 pounds CO2
—offsets the average meat-centered US diet OR six months’ worth of commuting
$200 = preserves an acre of rainforest—and with it, five tons CO2
—offsets a year’s car driving OR half a year’s household energy use

Ready to Offset?  Send your check to NCP, 718 Wilder St., Elgin, IL 60123 or donate here and note that it’s for our Offset program.  As with all our Special Projects, 100 percent of your contributions go to the projects themselves. Really!

Background info and references
—Video games draw 16/150 watts (Wii/Play Station 3) of energy, or around 1 kilowatt hour per week @ one hour per day, which creates a weekly average of 2 pounds of CO2 (leaving games on while not in use increases CO2 by a factor of ten!) / HD TV  (LED/LCD) draws from 70-280 watts per hour
—A single burger can be responsible for 10 or more pounds of greenhouse gases / Using a laptop saves around 2 pounds of CO2 per day compared to a desktop
—Long flights create about one-third pound CO2 per passenger mile or 1000 pounds for a 3000 mile trip / Five minutes in the shower can create 3 pounds of CO2 / at 160-560 watts per hour for 5 hours, a plasma TV draws an average of 1.5 kw per day and is responsible for around 3 pounds of CO2 daily
—A study by Virginia Tech found that eating non-local broccoli resulted in 99.8% more CO2 than the locally produced version (and the local tasted better)—totaling about 4 extra pounds of CO2 per serving (see page 9 of article) / Annual CO2 emissions from household waste is around 1000 pounds per person
—When comparing the “standard” US diet that includes meat every day to a plant-based diet, some 3000 extra pounds of greenhouse gases are created by the meat-centered diet (see page 15 of linked article) / The average daily commute in the US is around 30 miles; @ 25 mpg, that’s 25 pounds of CO2 per day—or around 500 per month
—The average car is driven 12,000 miles per year emitting around 10,000 pounds CO2 (@ 25 mpg) / The average home requires 10,000 kilowatts of energy per year, creating 20,000 pounds of CO2