More Trees, Please!

In August, IT wrote about Sustainable Travel International, an organization that helps hotels and hotel guests offset their carbon emissions through the recently launched “Travel Green” program.

This month, we bring you another carbon-offsetting agency: the Carbon Capital Fund. The fund, a joint effort by the National Forest Foundation and the U.S. Forest Service, aims to offset carbon emissions by reforesting areas destroyed by wildfires and other natural disasters.

How It Works: The site provides a carbon calculator for participants to calculate their estimated yearly carbon footprint. After plugging in the numbers (estimated electric bill, how often you fly, etc.) the calculator will tell you, in dollars, how much you can contribute to neutralize your carbon emissions. Patrons can then donate that amount to the fund, which will, in turn, spend the money on planting CO2-absorbing trees in the 193 million acres (in 155 forests) of America’s National Forests.

Why We Like It: Currently, these forests absorb between 10 and 15 percent of the nation’s carbon emissions. The Forest Service told the L.A. Times that in planting more trees, this number will increase. Reforestation is desperately needed, especially with this summer’s heap of forest fires. Examples of projects include planting trees in 500 acres of the Custer National Forest and in 1,400 acres of the Payette National Forest, which was damaged by a tornado in 2006.

Kudos to the Carbon Capital Fund for giving us tree-huggin' hikers a way to neutralize our carbon footprint and preserve the wilderness we love. And thanks to Gadling for the tip!