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Please read on to see what CarbonMe.org is working towards and how we can all play our part in building a sustainable future:
Global Warming
Global climate change, which the world is increasingly experiencing, is often called "Global Warming". The reason is that for over 150 years, average temperatures on earth have been slowly increasing. For the most part, this has been the result of human activity. It is often blamed on major energy users: the "polluters of the atmosphere". In turn, they have spent vast sums of money, first to deny that it is happening, then to say that none of this can be proven and that those who suggest it can are using "bad science". They add confusion by substituting weather for climate, trying to de-bunk the issue: for example, on a bitterly cold morning in London, they might ask "so this is your global warming?" None of these arguments worked, so they took a new approach, saying that even if there is such a thing as global warming, there's really nothing we can do about it.
Effects
We've seen the effects of climate change taking place. We've seen the dry seasons getting longer and hotter. We've seen storms growing in frequency and violence. We've seen floods where they had never been before. And river's becoming salty even though they are far from the sea. We've seen islands disappear and new diseases arrive. Rising temperatures around the world are melting polar ice, Some greenhouse projections predict a 20 foot rise in sea levels, flooding islands, London, New York etc and increasing the temperature of oceans killing coral and wildlife. A warmer world will turn the subtropics into tropics and tropical diseases, including those that have no vaccines, will move north. Insects carrying dengue fever and malaria will soon begin infecting human populations in new areas which are not currently considered tropical, as they spread with temperature increases.
Solution
We've found that projects for the benefit of the environment, if planned correctly, don't cost: they pay! They don't take away jobs. Instead they offer new sources of sustainable income. They start whole new industries. These new jobs are in managing, rather than exploiting, the world's natural resources. Instead of raising taxes, such projects actually reduce the expenses of governments.
We can't help ourselves just by doing less harm - we need to do more good. Does this mean raising taxes? Closing factories? Wrecking our economy? No-- just the opposite. It means growing our economy in new ways: developing sustainable energy sources. Much more important, restoring and managing the world's natural resources, literally turning the deserts back into sustainably managed forests. Through the programs we support, trees absorb carbon and turn it into things people need such as food, clothing, shelter, medicines, organic fertilizer, bio-fuel etc.
Trees
Through a natural process called photosynthesis, which is the process by which plants remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere for plant growth, and by which the plants give off oxygen to replace the CO2, atmospheric levels of CO2 can be brought down.
In this way, nature has always been able to maintain a reasonable balance between plant and animal populations. At least until recently. Over about the last 120 years, the use of fossil fuels has increased many times over. Introducing all this formerly-stored carbon into the atmosphere, with no corresponding mechanism to take it back out, has resulted in high levels of CO2 in the atmosphere.
Together with this, the world is experiencing the destruction of 34.5million acres of forest every year. Where these forests once sequestered many billions of tons of CO2, the accompanying burning has released much of this carbon back into the atmosphere, while these lands are rapidly becoming deserts. This is one of the important reasons CarbonMe helps people bring tree cover and forests back to these devastated lands. Importantly, it is the places where CarbonMe is working, the tropics and sub-tropics of the developing world, where tree planting, reforestation, and sustainable land management best maximize levels of photosynthesis. We work in the photosynthetic hotbeds of the world: the tropics and subtropics. Trees planted in these areas sequester carbon three times faster than trees planted in temperate regions.
The reforestation process
Seeds are planted in a nursery. They are watered and looked after every day. As soon as the trees are strong enough to be replanted they are transported to the designated plot of land. The team then plant the trees in strategic places to ensure fast, successful and sustainable growth.
Each of Us - We can’t help ourselves just by doing less harm – we need to do more good
You've heard that each of us should become more energy efficient and that we should switch to renewable energy sources like solar power and wind energy, and that we should use electric cars, take the bus, or ride in car pools instead of driving alone to work. However, even if you become three or four times as energy-efficient as you are now, you still will be generating carbon dioxide through your demand for transportation and power. If you live in an industrial society, you are contributing a large amount of CO2 to the greenhouse effect and the gradual increase in average global temperatures. The next time you eat a salad, think of the energy used to transport and cool the lettuce, tomatoes etc on your plate, not to mention the restaurant you are in etc.
What Just One Person Can Do:
- One person (Gandhi) committed to non-violence freed an entire nation. One person (Marco Polo) told stories of China and opened a trade route to the Orient.
- One person sailed across an ocean (Columbus) and discovered a whole new world. - or –
- One person planting a tree every day for two years would reforest more than an acre of degraded land, bringing it back to sustained productivity, thereon annually removing 18 tons of CO2 from the global atmosphere.
- One person convincing a local business to become environmentally friendly could bring back forests to entire communities around the world.
Driving a Car:
An average car driven 10,000 miles in a year emits 4.7 tons of CO2 – requires 5 trees
Your Home:
An average 3 bed semi puts 6.75 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere annually- requires 7 trees!
Traveling by Airplane:
For every hour you fly 0.15 tons of CO2 is emitted into the global atmosphere (per person). e.g a 5 hr return flight for 2 totaling 20hrs will emit 3 tons of C02 - This will require 3 trees to be planted
Shipping Freight by Air:
Multiply the weight of the shipment by the number of miles flown divide by 181. This gives you the number of tons of CO2 emissions. Example: a 1 ton. shipment flown 1,000 miles = 5.52 tons of CO2. (1 ton x 1,000 miles/181 = 5.52 tons) CO2 - requires 6 trees!
Calculations are based on figures provided by DEFRA and refer to a tree over its whole lifetime!
Top Tips for Business
- Turn your computer, monitor and printer off when you're not using them
- Make sure all the lights and heaters have been turned off at the end of the day
- Send emails rather than sending by post whenever possible
- Don't print unnecessarily or print on both sides
- Drive vehicles with low emissions and maximize journeys
- recycle waste
- Use :-
- energy saving light bulbs
- environmentally friendly soap and detergent
- environmentally friendly air freshener
- hand drying paper not electric hand dryers
- paper from sustainable forests
- Switch to a “green energy providerâ€
Top Tips for Home
- Turn down the central heating just slightly.
- The fridge/freezer is usually the largest user of electricity in the home. It should not be in direct sunlight or next to an oven. Instead place it near an exterior wall so the heat can escape and leave a gap so air can circulate.
- Do put frozen food in the fridge to defrost as this will help to keep the fridge cold.
- The tumble dryer is usually the second biggest user of electricity in the home after the fridge. When possible hang clothes on the washing line and reduce you electricity usage.
- When using the washing machine between 85-90% of the energy is used to heat up the water. By reducing the water temperature and using a warm wash rather than hot wash will reduce consumption by nearly half.
- On average between 10-15% of electricity used is for lighting the home. By having energy saving light bulbs your electricity usage could be greatly reduced as they use 4 times less energy and last 10 times longer than ordinary bulbs.
- Always turn the lights off when you leave a room.
- Items such as TV and stereo left on standby use up to 85% of the energy they would use when in full use.
- Switch to a “green energy providerâ€.
- When cooking always use the right size pan and only put in as much water as Needed, as in the kettle.
- By covering the pan with a lid the water will come to boil quicker.
Top Tips for Driving
- Keep tyres pumped up to reduce resistance, use less fuel and increase life of tyres
- Remove unnecessary clutter from the car to reduce your engine workload
- Driving within the speed limit will reduce Co2 emissions
- Stopping and starting your car produces more emissions. Keep an eye on the traffic in front and start to slow down early therefore less accelerating will be needed when the traffic begins to move.
- Minimise use of air conditioning system.
- Over revving your car wastes fuel and increases engine wear. By changing the gears a little earlier you reduce the revs of your car. The recommended gear change for a diesel car is 2000rpm and for a petrol car at 2500rpm.
- Reduce the amount you use your car. Use public transport such as the bus or train or when possible walk or cycle instead.
- Run a fuel efficient car such as LPG, hybrid or electric.
- Organise a carpool to travel to work or for the school run.
