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chrdlu | 6 years ago

We can all do our part! Even though it is hard to actively contribute to fighting climate change every day, by becoming carbon neutral, we can grow a community to make a difference!

The average American has a carbon footprint that can be offset with a $20 per month subscription. We need more money to flow into fighting climate change!

I personally use Project Wren to offset my carbon footprint specifically through a tree planting projects!

https://projectwren.com/

discuss

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numakerg|6 years ago

Does ESO own any stock in this company?

>The average American has a carbon footprint that can be offset with a $20 per month subscription

You have a source on that?

tunesmith|6 years ago

The average American has a 20-ton / year carbon footprint. Offsetting 20 tons per year has a cost that ranges depending on what service you use. I've seen estimates of $6-10/ton - $20/month is $12/ton.

Edit: for the average american footprint, you can easily find the stat that the US emitted 5.268 GtCO2 in 2018. There are 327.16 million people in the US. From that I get more like 16 tons/year per person, so 20 is out of date. Of course, we have to get to zero with sequestration on top of that.

perfunctory|6 years ago

Just looking at one of their sample projects "Clean cooking fuel for refugees"

It says

> Briquettes replace wood burning, a heavy polluting fuel source

> This initative is projected to provide 4,000 refugee households with clean briquettes, saving over 16,000 tons of emissions annually.

Let's do some back-of-the-envelope calculation. 16K ton per 4K refugees means 4t per person per year. I couldn't find data on briquettes efficiency vs wood but let's be generous and say it's twice as efficient. Then the emission before the reduction would be 8t per person per year.

So they are telling me that an average Uganda refugee, from cooking alone, emits almost as much as an average Brit [0]

edit: what am I missing?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_greenhous...

lozenge|6 years ago

I doubt you're missing anything. "Offsetting" projects are based on hypothetical calculations of how much would be emitted without the project. This is the easiest part to fudge. And if they didn't fudge it, then people would pick cheaper projects or just not buy them at all.

What happens, for example, if refugees decide to keep using wood as well as the free briquettes? It could result in higher emissions (Jevons paradox).

bb611|6 years ago

Here's a comparison project by Cooling Effect, which was recommended to me by reasonable skeptical, saavy people at my work: https://www.cooleffect.org/content/project/affordable-cookst...

My guess is this is still highly optimistic, but the project claims are 50% emissions reduction from cooking, which is at least possible.

digitaltrees|6 years ago

Fund on going litigation to fight climate change and the damage it is and will do to our economy, free market, and future. There are several nonprofits leading this. One is youCAN. That’s youth climate action now. I am starting a non profit to expand on that idea and fund as much litigation and legislation as possible. Voting isn’t the only venue for citizens to protest and protect their rights.