December 2018
I am a little ahead of myself on New Year’s resolutions this year. I know, I know…not yet Rich…too early. Sorry, but I just can’t bottle this up. The next paragraph might induce you to skip the rest of this email as “too heavy” for the holiday season – but don’t, there is a happy ending.
As a scientist by training, I have never doubted the reality of global warming, nor of humankind’s central role in it. The October report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change provides clear evidence that we have a limited time to respond. While what we really need is to bring politicians together to work on concerted efforts, I decided that I am not willing to wait. Not really knowing how it would turn out, I made a resolution to make my business carbon neutral by the end of 2019. In other words, I would try to reduce my business-related carbon dioxide emissions (the primary gas associated with global warming) to zero. Much to my surprise, I found a way to realize that resolution before 2019 even got started.
So how did this happen? I used a combination of on-line calculators to estimate the amount of carbon dioxide that is released as a result of my business activities. The bulk of it is attributed to heating and cooling my office space, and the next largest component is due to commuting and travel to see clients outside of Charlottesville. Since I rent my office space (utilities are included in the rent) and drive a Prius there was neither a lot of control nor low-hanging fruit to make good on my resolution. So, what was a resolution-making chap to do?
Taking my lead from Google (a carbon-neutral company), I decided to research purchasing carbon credits to offset the carbon that my business emits. In a sense, this is paying someone else to reduce their carbon emissions to counter balance your own emissions. While I will continue to look thoughtfully at ways to reduce my direct carbon emissions, this approach with carbon credits allows me to have a more immediate impact. So immediate in fact that I have achieved my 2019 carbon-neutral resolution in 2018, by purchasing carbon credits to more than offset my business emissions over the last year!
The carbon credits that I have purchased are supporting the Ethiopia Clean Water Project. I can imagine a chorus echoing through the internet… “Wait a second Rich, isn’t this supposed to be about carbon dioxide?” Indeed, it is. In the Sidama region of Ethiopia, where the project is focused, most of the water is not safe to drink without first boiling it. This project will put simple but effective water filtration equipment (and training) in the hands of about 1500 households in the region. The filtration eliminates the need to boil the water. That, in turn, eliminates the need to gather firewood in an area suffering widespread deforestation and avoids the relatively inefficient burning of wood on open fires (and that is where the carbon dioxide emissions are reduced). The beauty of this project is that in addition to reducing carbon emissions, it also provides safe drinking water and reduces deforestation.
Thank you for your business in 2018. Together we have made a difference.
If you would like to learn more about the Ethiopia Clean Water Project, please visit the following website:
Cheers,
