What does it mean to be carbon neutral and
what does it mean for your business?

We all create carbon which leads to our Carbon footprint. Everyone’s footprint is unique and intertwined. The life we lead and the businesses that operate all amount to a footprint that can be measured. As we focus on how this footprint is created we can understand how the minimize it. Why should we be concerned about CO² (carbon dioxide) in our daily lives and the businesses we patronize? If the planet can not sequester the CO² we produce, it creates the Greenhouse gases (GHG) and global warming we are all familiar with. If the planet warms only 1 degree it can have disastrous consequences, some we can see already.

Look at it this way. An ice cube at 32˚ F or 0˚ C will remain frozen. At 33˚F or 1˚C it will turn to water. As we add more water to our oceans we lose more shoreline. These related news articles show how these ocean front properties are being destroyed every day. As the oceans warm, hurricanes are more intense and numerous. This is also a problem we are all becoming familiar with. Although these changes seam to be happening slowly, it is something that will affect all of us in our lifetime and will definitely affect our children greatly if we do not start to do something to neutralize this trend.

This brings us back to “what can we do?” The first task is to reduce our carbon footprint as much as we can and then create opportunities to neutralize the balance of our CO² with meaningful projects, thus becoming “Carbon Neutral”. These projects create clean energy and reduce the need for the excess CO2 produced from burning fossil fuels. Some projects also capture CO² that would normally be released into the atmosphere and create new “clean” energy. These projects can be seen through Carbon Offset companies such as Native Energy, Carbon Fund, and Terrapass.

As we understand what it means to be carbon neutral, we also understand it is something that is voluntary and will become something we are all measured on. As consumers have the choice to choose a supplier that has green initiative, they also have the choice to make a difference.