Climate change has become the most pressing environmental issue of this century. But while many of us agree that we must do something, the challenge sometimes seems great. What small action can you take to make a difference? Go ZeroSM.
The Conservation Fund’s Go Zero program makes it simple and economical for individuals, corporations, or even entire communities to first measure their carbon dioxide emissions, learn helpful ways to reduce those emissions, and then offset the remainder by planting trees.
The World Bank estimates that 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions are caused by deforestation. Estimates are that as much as 50% of the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide over the last 50 years may be due to the effects of changing land use patterns. In the United States alone, we lose more than two million acres of forests, farmland and natural landscapes each year to development. And in the Lower Mississippi River Valley, more than 20 million acres of native forestland have been cleared in the last century.
While restoring America’s forests alone will not stop global warming, given the scale of the effort required to tackle climate change, we need to pursue new technologies that help us reduce our footprint and at the same time, recognize and use the tools we have at our fingertips.
One of those tools is reforestation. Since 2000, the Fund has restored 20,000 acres of forestlands with six million trees through its carbon sequestration programs. These trees will capture an estimated 8 million tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere over their lifetime. Use the Fund’s Carbon Zero Calculator today to estimate your emissions and Go Zero.
1. Open the calculator by clicking the link above then input your annual consumption for three categories (home energy use, daily transportation, and air travel). The entire process takes about five minutes.
2. The calculator will estimate your carbon footprint for the year, as well as the number of trees it will take to neutralize your personal impact on climate change.
3. Go Zero! With your donation, The Conservation Fund will plant the appropriate number of native trees on your behalf to help fight climate change.
Whether you are a private business or an individual, you too can help fight climate change by measuring and then “zeroing out” your carbon dioxide emissions. As an individual, you can use the Carbon Zero Calculator to measure and offset your carbon footprint. For businesses, The Conservation Fund’s Go Zero corporate program provides scalable tools and strategies that will offset the carbon emissions for a particular business unit, an entire brand, or a selected product. By making it easy and inexpensive to combat climate change, the Go Zero program can also be used to encourage larger audiences such as customers, employees, or even your local schools, churches and governments to Go Zero.
Your estimated annual carbon dioxide footprint is the sum of the carbon dioxide that is produced by your home energy use, auto transportation, and air travel. The total number of lbs is converted to tons. On average, each tree planted as part of the Fund's Carbon Zero program sequesters approximately one ton of CO2 equivalent over its lifetime.
For a complete list of formulas, calculations, and sources, download the Go Zero metric sheet.
If you still have questions, check out our Go Zero frequently asked questions.
For more information, contact Jena Thompson, Director, Go ZeroSM.
This Mother’s Day Biolage and the Fund will unveil an initiative to plant more than 9,000 trees that will absorb nearly 24 million pounds of carbon dioxide over their lifetime.
You can help when you purchase special co-branded Biolage products from participating salons. This year, Biolage will donate $50,000 to the Fund to support its Go Zero program.
Powered by: Phase2 TechnologyThe Conservation Fund National Office
1655 N. Fort Myer Drive, Suite 1300
Arlington, Virginia 22209-2156
Phone: 703-525-6300
Fax: 703-525-4610
Email: postmaster@conservationfund.org
