Since becoming a parent I admit that I give more thought to the impact I am having on the world than I used to . After all, what was done to the planet previously is what I deal with today, and what I do to the planet in my life is what my son will deal with in the future. We try to bike or walk when we can, we have changed to cloth diapers, we recycle...it never occurred to me that my blog might be leaving a carbon footprint behind.
According to a recent Planet Green article, blogs do exactly that. The article sites a study out of Harvard University that shows that the average website is responsible for 0.02 grams of carbon dioxide emissions per visitor. This means that a blog with 15,000 visitors a month would produce 8 pounds of carbon emissions a year! While my blog has nothing close to 15,000 visitors a month, I was still startled to find that my blogging, and blog reading, is contributing to carbon dioxide emissions into our atmosphere.
Luckily, there is a way to make blogs carbon neutral without spending anything but a little time.
German organization, Make It Green!, is teaming up with the Arbor Day Foundation to help make blogs planet friendly. According to the Planet Green article: "Given that the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change estimates a tree absorbs about 20 pounds of emissions each year -- though it is important to note that fewer emissions are absorbed in the tree's first few years of life -- even a blog with thousands of visitors a month can be carbon neutral by planting just one tree."
Does this mean you have to go out and plant a tree in your backyard in order to make your blog a planet friendly one? Not at all! Make It Green! and the Arbor Day Foundation are going to make it as easy as placing a button on your blog! All you have to do is:
- Write a blog post about this initiative and insert one of the buttons from Make It Green! in the post.
- Email the post's link to Make It Green! at co2-neutral@kaufda.de
Better yet, the tree will be planted right here in America, helping to re-plant the Plumas National Forest, a 1-million-acre forest in northern California, that was devastated by forest fires in 2007. Already, Make It Green! and the Arbor Day Foundation have planted 350 trees, but there is always room for more! Make It Green! will plant a tree for every blog domain they receive a link for, so be sure to get your button today! It takes minutes, and has such an amazing reward for such a small amount of your time!
If you make your blog carbon neutral, leave a comment and let me know! I'm curious to see how many people participate in this movement!
Carbon Neutral is great
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