I recently watched Al Gore's movie An Inconvenient Truth. I am interested in the environment and wanted to see if there was anything in the movie that had slipped my attention. As someone who pays attention to the news the film did not have a lot of new or shocking information for me. It did, however, have an effect. I had heard of a carbon footprint and knew mine was probably low (I don't own a car). But I didn't know what the "average Americans" footprint is. I decided to go to the web site listed in the credits of the movie www.climatecrisis.com to find out. It turns out the average American produces 15,000 pounds or 7.5 tons of Co2 per year. 7.5 tons!
This left me with another question. What does a ton of Co2 look like? So I started digging. Carbon dioxide emissions are calculated from the weight of carbon. One metric ton of Co2 gas can be visualized as a balloon 10 yards in diameter filled with Co2. Okay now I can picture what we are talking about! The "average American family" produces 24 tons of Co2. According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau report there are 105,480,101 families in America. That is a lot of balloons! How will we survive with all that Co2 warming the Earth?
Awareness of global climate change is increasing. Presidential Candidates have been addressing the issue in their political debates. Auto manufacturers are increasing fuel efficiency and adding hybrids and flex fuel vehicles to their car production lines. Communities are enhansing recycling programs. And homeowners are increasing household efficiency in a number of ways including: insulating their homes, replacing light bulbs with compact florescence, and in some cases, using solar or wind energy to power their homes and put power back into the grid... for a profit!
Yes! There are ways to make money by being environmentally responsible. A group in Chicago, Climate Exchange PLC is the first in the world to trade carbon credits. Based on the "cap and trade" idea, corporations and smaller groups of companies that can show that they have a negative net greenhouse gas emission total can join the climate exchange and trade their credits to companies that are emitting too much green house gas. An example of a smaller group that is making a difference is One Ton Co2 . Climate Exchange PLC trades carbon credits in Europe too with the European Climate Exchange. The number of credits traded have been significantly higher within the European Climate Exchange. Here in the US, trades are picking up. Corporations are seeing added value in acting responsibly.
Richard Branson of Virgin has raised the stakes. In September he announced the Virgin Earth Challenge. Along the lines of the x prize, Branson challenged private industry and academics to compete in creating innovation to solve the problem of global climate change. The contest is open to anyone. The winner, or winners, must demonstrate a viable means for capturing 1 billion metric metric tons of atmospheric Co2 per year for 10 years while creating no harmful effects in the process. The contest last 5 years. The prize totals 25 million dollars! Good luck.
This left me with another question. What does a ton of Co2 look like? So I started digging. Carbon dioxide emissions are calculated from the weight of carbon. One metric ton of Co2 gas can be visualized as a balloon 10 yards in diameter filled with Co2. Okay now I can picture what we are talking about! The "average American family" produces 24 tons of Co2. According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau report there are 105,480,101 families in America. That is a lot of balloons! How will we survive with all that Co2 warming the Earth?
Awareness of global climate change is increasing. Presidential Candidates have been addressing the issue in their political debates. Auto manufacturers are increasing fuel efficiency and adding hybrids and flex fuel vehicles to their car production lines. Communities are enhansing recycling programs. And homeowners are increasing household efficiency in a number of ways including: insulating their homes, replacing light bulbs with compact florescence, and in some cases, using solar or wind energy to power their homes and put power back into the grid... for a profit!
Yes! There are ways to make money by being environmentally responsible. A group in Chicago, Climate Exchange PLC is the first in the world to trade carbon credits. Based on the "cap and trade" idea, corporations and smaller groups of companies that can show that they have a negative net greenhouse gas emission total can join the climate exchange and trade their credits to companies that are emitting too much green house gas. An example of a smaller group that is making a difference is One Ton Co2 . Climate Exchange PLC trades carbon credits in Europe too with the European Climate Exchange. The number of credits traded have been significantly higher within the European Climate Exchange. Here in the US, trades are picking up. Corporations are seeing added value in acting responsibly.
Richard Branson of Virgin has raised the stakes. In September he announced the Virgin Earth Challenge. Along the lines of the x prize, Branson challenged private industry and academics to compete in creating innovation to solve the problem of global climate change. The contest is open to anyone. The winner, or winners, must demonstrate a viable means for capturing 1 billion metric metric tons of atmospheric Co2 per year for 10 years while creating no harmful effects in the process. The contest last 5 years. The prize totals 25 million dollars! Good luck.
