Why Carbon Offsets?
Every time we turn on the lights, take a flight or drive a car, we emit greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide that trap heat in the earth’s atmosphere and contribute to the problem of climate change. You can minimize your greenhouse gas emissions by taking steps to reduce the amount of gasoline, electricity, or natural gas that you use. What you can’t reduce, you can balance out, or “offset,” by donating to Live Climate to support projects that remove carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from the atmosphere for you.
What is a Carbon Offset?
When we drive, fly, or use electricity or gas, carbon dioxide (CO2) is released into the atmosphere. Carbon offsets balance out the impact of CO2-emitting activities by supporting projects that reduce CO2 in the atmosphere.
In general, carbon offsets are created by projects that:
- Pull carbon from the atmosphere (for example: planting a forest on degraded land).
- Prevent carbon from being emitted (for example: replacing kerosene lanterns with solar lights).
Please explore the variety of projects that Live Climate enables you to support. You can learn more about specific ways in which your carbon offset donation can reduce carbon dioxide in our atmosphere and fight poverty.
About Climate Change
We are currently experiencing warmer temperatures and shifting weather patterns. The earth’s climate is changing. The scientific community overwhelmingly agrees that climate change is real and is caused by human activities.
When we burn fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and natural gas, we release carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere. As heat gets trapped, the surface temperature of the earth begins to rise causing massive changes in our global environment.
As a result of climate change, glaciers and the polar ice caps are melting, sea levels are rising, and events such as hurricanes and droughts are getting more severe. In a 2004 study published in the journal Nature, 25% of all land animal and plant species were forecast to go extinct unless global warming could be stopped. In addition, climate change is expected to have disastrous impacts in poor countries around the world where people have fewer resources to adapt to the impacts of a changing climate. These impacts include floods, disease outbreaks, and threats to food supplies.
Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have risen quickly over the past 60 years. The scientific consensus is that to avoid catastrophic climate change, carbon dioxide levels cannot exceed 450 parts per million (ppm). To be safe, CO2 levels need to stop well below that level. Unless we make major changes to the way we live, we will far exceed 450 parts per million of CO2 before the next generation has a chance to correct our course. Please see this BBC article for more information.
Course correcting will be no simple task. It requires strong commitment from government and businesses. More than anything else, the problem requires commitment from each of us to do our part to limit carbon dioxide emissions. Reducing your footprint as much as possible, then offsetting the remainder with Live Climate and going “carbon neutral,” is the first step to that commitment.
This graph shows clearly the trend in atmospheric CO2 in parts per million (ppm):
Image: http://celebrating200years.noaa.gov/
For more information about global warming, please visit these links: