I finally had a chance to watch An Inconvenient Truth tonight. Since I’m not a movie critic by trade, I’ll give you the short review: you need to see it (especially if you’re American.)
While the film doesn’t necessarily present any new science, it does provide some shocking images that should make the world realize it’s time to do something. And what better place to start doing something than right here on the Internet?
There are a number of sites that allow you to calculate your carbon emissions and access tips for reducing your personal impact on the environment. Several of these actually let you make online donations towards clean energy projects to offset your climate change footprint.
My favorite is TerraPass. The site’s quick surveys let you know how much CO2 you produce in a year and provide some easy conservation tips. And what you can’t eliminate through conservation, you can balance out by purchasing a TerraPass (actually, four of them if you’re like me).
While it might not seem especially noble to break out a credit card and let someone else clean up your mess, it’s a lot more actionable than planting a tree in 19 degree weather. That said (written,) I still don’t feel good about my footprint.
2 Responses to “Go carbon neutral with TerraPass.”
[...] Driving home in her car (somehow it felt wrong to take my huge SUV,) my wife mentioned that Gore missed an opportunity to give a receptive audience a short list of actions (plant a tree, switch your light-bulbs to cfl’s, etc.) I agree, but what has always struck me in his message was that even if we did the most that was politically feasible, we would be far below the minimum of what’s needed. We need to do more than buy a TerraPass. [...]
[...] Yesterday, I mentioned the TerraPass wasn’t cutting it and said it was time to sell the SUV. Deane even promised bonus points if I found something that gets 25 mpg. Our new Prius gets 60. [...]