In a few weeks, I will venture to the frozen north of my home state, Maine, to attend my sister’s wedding. It is sure to be a joyous time for all. jetBlue will be my airline of choice because of its competitive fares, extended legroom coach seats and non-stop service between Orlando and the largest city in Maine, Portland.

In preparing for the flight, I examined my options for a carbon credit so that the net contribution to global warming of flying more than 1,000 miles each way will be a net zero. Since jetBlue has partnered with CarbonFund.org, I knew that I would like what I saw when I visited the special page on CarbonFund.org to offset my trip. I was very pleasantly surprised and that’s no easy feat for someone who has lived carbon-neutral since 2005.

If you have read my blog for any time, you know that I just love CarbonFund.org. This very fine organization achieves much. In fact, one of its claims to fame is that it now offsets more carbon than some nations produce each year. Good for them! However, even though superb offerings from TerraPass.com and others in the transportation sector make it easy for travelers to offset their driving and flying, a key aspect of such products was missing until now, radiative forcing.

“Radiative what?” you may ask. The concept is quite simple, even if we seldom ponder it. Aircraft spend the bulk of their time aloft at cruising altitude, roughly 7 miles above the surface. Up there, the effect of carbon emissions is more pronounced because the carbon particles have less chance to dissipate before floating to the top of the atmosphere. Worse still, because one product of the combustion of jet fuel is water, clouds are formed artificially, clouds laced with carbon particles and greenhouse gases, a noxious brew.

The ultimate result is that their contribution to global warming is roughly double that of driving even when comparing carbon emissions pound for pound because the dumping occurs so close to the sensitive layers of the atmosphere which are damaged by the carbon. Hence, those of us who travel by air need to break ourselves of a habit. When we purchase carbon credits, we must use a website which gives us the option of factoring in radiative forcing. CarbonFund.org does.

Worried that it’s too complicated versus using a convenient service such as TerraPass.com? It’s not. You merely need to adjust for the fact that you can purchase credits which include the extra damage of radiative forcing through the jetBlue offset page of CarbonFund.org irrespective of the airline you fly. Just check the box labeled radiative forcing and you’re all set.

And the cost? If I had used TerraPass.com for my trip to Maine, I would have paid roughly $10 to offset the roundtrip flight. By including radiative forcing, the price more than doubled but I will sleep easy on the flight knowing that both the carbon and its altitude have been offset.

To learn more and to employ an accurate offset of your next flight, visit

carbonfund.org/jetblue

I promise you’ll be glad you did.

Fomenting the Triple Bottom Line

Corbett Kroehler

Despite years of neglect and budgetary shortfalls from the federal government, the national forests, monuments and parks of the United States are the envy of the world. Launched by the late President Theodore Roosevelt, the United States Park Service and its sister agencies control vast swaths of environmentally sensitive lands and waters which serve many purposes, to purify air and water, to provide habitat for wildlife, including endangered species, and for recreation.

Public lands controlled by the United States Department of Defense serve the additional purpose of national security through buffering population centers and simulating hostile environments for training exercises. With so much land under permanent protection by the federal government and similar quantities held by state and local governments, one would think that there would be more than enough trees to go around during the fourth quarter of every year when millions of Americans acquire firs, pines, spruces and other evergreens to decorate their homes for the holidays.

Indeed, for much of the 20th Century, when the tradition of trimming a Christmas tree became widely popular, no tree shortage existed. Now, though, as we are poised to enter the second decade of the 21st Century, shortages are chronic. The simple fact is this, between the harm to forests caused by global warming and the acceleration of unsustainable logging practices around the world, decorators now compete with paper mills for lumber.

We are in a downward spiral and on track for a collision in which the world’s forests collapse from abuse.

What should environmentalists do?

Well, I have written about the benefits of sustainable Christmas trees, including plastic trees. However, we all can and must do more. That’s why I support the Campaign to Reforest America. Administered by the National Forest Foundation, a key ally to the United States Forest Service, the Campaign to Reforest America is all about replanting our forests.

Since the people’s Christmas tree, the large arbor which adorns Washington, DC each year, always is from a national forest, Bitterroot in Montana in the case of 2008, it is fitting that we focus on their efforts during the holiday season. The good news doesn’t stop there, though. Catalogs are a huge source of deforestation in the United States and around the world and far too few catalog companies have any concern about their role in this global tragedy. Crate & Barrel is different, though. Dedicating a fixed percentage of revenue to reforestation, Plow & Hearth is part of the solution and has taken a very forward and public position about its responsibility to replant the trees which are felled to produce its catalogs.

I commend Plow & Hearth for its corporate responsibility in being a lead participant in the Campaign to Reforest America and encourage you to consider patronizing this organization for your last-minute holiday shopping or at any time during the year. You can learn more about the specifics of Crate & Barrel’s role in the Campaign to Reforest America at

http://www.plowhearth.com/about/reforest.asp

If you would like to make a financial contribution to replant trees this holiday season directly, without making a purchase, the National Forest Foundation maintains a convenient website to do just that. The URL is

https://app.etapestry.com/hosted/NationalForestFoundation/PlowandHearth.html

Fomenting the Triple Bottom Line

Corbett Kroehler

As a new administration takes up occupancy of the White House and as our thoughts remain focused on the gifts we received or wrapped for others this trying holiday season, it is an ideal moment to reflect on the concept and realities of fair trade.

Allow me to be clear. With this thread, I will not engage in partisan politics. Indeed, my true emphasis is nearly apolitical. Fair trade is defined in part by Wikipedia as advocating the payment of a fair price as well as social and environmental standards in areas related to the production of a wide variety of goods. In other words, a day’s wage for a day’s work. Few could argue with that, right?

Well, even among those who would argue that fair trade is a good idea, let’s remember that paying people enough for their work to feed, clothe and shelter themselves with a modicum remaining to save for the future is a good idea from an environmental perspective, too. You see, if workers are paid slave wages or charged usurious interest rates for equipment to do their job, they take shortcuts, such as poisoning a waterway in order to drive fish to the surface or burning down a forest to drive out the animals which they wish to trap.

These ideas sound grotesque and I heartily agree but they are the reality of not paying a day’s wage for a day’s work. Hence, I support fair trade for humanitarian and environmental reasons. Of course, within the environmental community, there is little distinction between humanitarian and environmental causes since we all need clean air to breathe and clean water to drink.

As all of this regards you purchasing decisions, it can be difficult to know what to buy since few if any retailers disclose the labor and environmental practices of their suppliers, although large firms such as Wal-Mart have begun to take steps to do so. Hence, if you have any remaining Christmas presents to purchase or are wondering how to buy a sustainable order of chocolate and coffee for New Year’s Eve, I have a couple of recommendations for you.

First, we have Green-Living.com

Offering an array of sustainable products, even if you only purchase one gift for someone special from this site, you can smile for making the right choice. What’s more, since the items offered span merchandise categories, you may enjoy the practice of matching the sustainable product with the right recipient.

Then, we have GlobalExchangeStore.org

Long an anchor of fair trade, GlobalExchangeStore.org is a wonderful hub of sustainability for the holidays and any time of year. Spend some time there. Even if you make no purchases, you can learn a great deal about what fair trade means and how it impacts the environment. If more people included such considerations in their gifting research, the world would be a cleaner place.

Fomenting the Triple Bottom Line

Corbett Kroehler

I have lived in Florida since 1988 and spent my formative years in Northern New England. However, I was born in southeastern Pennsylvania and lived there for my first ten memorable years. In fact, I lived in the heart of Amish country. The wonderful Harrison Ford film Witness represents the bucolic beauty of the region most admirably.

Every autumn, during the annual fair, which we called farm show, two local delicacies were enjoyed by thousands of people, including this author: buttered, fried bread dough and fresh-cut French fries topped with salt and vinegar. Yum!

Until my parents dared me to try white vinegar on my French fries, I was content with the McDonalds method, lightly browned with a moderate amount of salt. Once I savored a steak fry with the skins and doused in white vinegar, reversion was impossible. Too lazy to cook them for myself, as an adult I am able to enjoy this rare delicacy all too infrequently.

Besides as a condiment, though, few people have much use for vinegar. Well, it turns out that it can be very helpful during this time of year, as a deicing agent for automobile windshields. No, really! Most people use chlorine- or glycol-based deicing agents because they are effective yet inexpensive. Unfortunately, they also are bad for the environment.

How, though, could something as simple as windshield deicer contribute to global warming? The answer is not readily apparent but needs to be considered. When used on thousands of windshields during winter months, literally millions of gallons of deicer can wash downstream and ultimately gather in our oceans, where it is toxic to sea life. Our oceans are an indispensible ally in our fight against global warming because they produce oxygen. However, it is the tiny plants living in the oceans which produce the oxygen and they are killed by artificial deicing agents.

So, as you battle with keeping your windshield free of ice during the morning hours this winter, consider the natural alternative, a simple solution of 50% white vinegar mixed with water and sprayed on your windshield when you park your car for an extended period. The oxygen-producing creatures of the world’s oceans and I thank you!

Fomenting the Triple Bottom Line

Corbett Kroehler

Since the very beginning of this blog in the summer of 2007, I have warned about rising temperatures. Given that my corner of this blog community is labeled Keyboard Culture Global Warming, this should come as little surprise. At the risk of tooting my own horn, it likewise should come as little surprise that my prognostications and warnings continue to point to a steady flow of bad news.

A few weeks ago, we received the latest round. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, has determined that surface temperatures over land during the month of October were the second-warmest ever. Yes, this is more bad news.

It begs two questions:

1) What are the short-term ramifications?

and

2) What can this alarming statistic teach us about the planet’s reaction to our continued and accelerating emission of greenhouse gases?

I’ll answer in reverse order.

The atmosphere of the Earth is self-regulating. If it weren’t, the constant assault of solar radiation and assorted other galactic pollutants would cook us. The planetary regulatory mechanism relies on various components, including the ozone layer, the oxygen-producing qualities of the oceans, the oxygen-producing qualities of forests and prairies and the carbon-sequestering qualities of plants.

Human behavior since the Industrial Revolution has thrown a monkey wrench into that mechanism. Now, we have stripped the gears and the only way of repairing the damage is to rebuild the machine. Until we do, the atmosphere will behave as if it has several screws loose and stripped gears.

As for the short-term ramifications, the effect of atmospheric stripped gears will be further volatility in the weather. The most obvious manifestations will be sudden, unseasonable storms, bringing flooding, hail, hurricanes and other such phenomena.

How should you respond? Well, I keep pounding on the theme of buying carbon offsets. In my next post, I will begin a series on various offerings to help you purchase carbon offsets from CarbonFund.org and protect areas which are vital to the self-regulating mechanism of our atmosphere with the Wild Places program from the Sierra Club.

Fomenting the Triple Bottom Line

Corbett Kroehler

Reduce What You Can, Offset What You Can’t

Since the United States is a world leader per capita in greenhouse gas emissions which cause global warming, the statistic of 24 tons of carbon generated per year per capita is a powerful one. Now, I get just as jolly during the holiday season as anyone but with the news about global warming worsening month by month, I would be negligent if I didn’t encourage all of my readers to embrace carbon offsets once the buzz of Christmas and New Year’s has passed.

So, have you taken the time to calculate how much carbon you generated in 2008? If not, there’s a set of handy carbon calculators which I highly recommend at CarbonFund.org

Once you have calculated the number, there’s another key point to ponder. Unless, like me, you lived carbon-neutral during 2008, you must offset your carbon emissions. If you have followed my work here for some time, then you know that I endorse and use several services to purchase my carbon credits. Lately, I have covered CarbonFund.org with growing intensity because of the impressive manner in which the company innovates. The subject of today’s post merely is the latest.

The hustle and bustle of the holiday shopping season makes it easy to forget the volume of pollution involved. In a previous post, I mentioned The Story Of Stuff, a wonderful online movie which I give my highest recommendation. The most important theme of that landmark creation is that the true environmental expenses of modern life are hidden in the industrialized world.

When we factor in the enormous pressures toward materialism which come with the holiday shopping season, we strip away decades of natural resources from the planet in the course of just a few weeks’ time. As if that weren’t bad enough, we leave a trail of waste which winds up in such places as dumps and landfills as well as smog in our skies and hundreds of tons of carbon in the upper atmosphere.

What can you do? Offset the damage.

Even if your gifts all have been opened, you can purchase Holiday ClimateTags from CarbonFund.org These nifty virtual gifts make it possible for you to offset some or all of the carbon emissions caused by your celebration of the holidays and the entry price point is quite low, just $10 for an entire ton.

Visit CarbonFund.org today and purchase one or more Holiday ClimateTags. You’ll feel jolly when you’re done.

Fomenting the Triple Bottom Line

Corbett Kroehler

Great Gifts That Help Protect The Wild

As a life member of the Sierra Club, I know that I am somewhat biased toward that organization’s programs and initiatives. The Wild Places program is no exception. Nevertheless, even if I were not a member and former leader of the Sierra Club, I would recommend the Wild Places program to you because of its goals and approach.

The Wild Places program has chosen four areas of natural splendor, all under varying degrees of protection from the United States government and jeopardy from the same. They are the Giant Sequoia National Monument, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Yosemite National Park and Acadia National Park. I feature them here in part because protecting them also means fighting the effects of global warming on account of their function within large natural systems, botanical systems in particular.

I could go on for hours about why each of these needs to be preserved in perpetuity but the special section of the Sierra Club website does it quite well. Visit

SierraClub.org/wildplaces

and consider a donation today. Purchasing carbon offsets is very important but through the Sierra Club Wild Places initiative, you can purchase a tangible piece of the planetary mechanism which gives us clean air to breathe and clean water to drink. I can’t think of a better way to start the new year than by keeping wild places wild.

Fomenting the Triple Bottom Line

Corbett Kroehler

In the industrialized world, transportation accounts for about 40% of air pollution and emissions of greenhouse gases, including carbon. Since automobiles remain a growing trend within the industrialized world, they are a great concern to everyone fighting global warming. Naturally, I am convinced that the Interstate Traveler Hydrogen Superhighway is the best solution because it is clean but does not ask people to sacrifice car ownership.

I am equally convinced, however, that the only viable solution to reversing the global climate crisis is one in which cars are clean to manufacture, maintain and operate. Hyundai Motor Company, in partnership with CarbonFund.org, has vaulted into the pole position among the major automakers with its commitment to the Genesis Forest Project. This insightful initiative is key in Hyundai’s corporate commitment to offset 100% of the carbon emissions caused in 2009 by the manufacture of every car in the Genesis line sold in the United States, estimated at 3,000 vehicles.

Wow!

The good news continues, too. Hyundai will encourage its customers to contribute to the Genesis Forest Project in Brazil thus offsetting the operation of their cars. I congratulate Hyundai Motor Company for its bold step and CarbonFund.org for facilitating the online carbon calculator and other tools which allow Hyundai drivers to be greener.

I am equally pleased to share with you the fact that the Genesis Forest Project is no mere carbon sequestration site. Nay, it is a very progressive wildlife preservation project in the Cerrado region of Brazil, classified as a biodiversity hotspot. What’s more, the project embraces the Social Carbon Methodology.

What is that, you may ask? Here is a quote from SocialCarbon.com...

The Social Carbon Methodology uses a set of analytical tools that assess the social, environmental and economic condition of communities affected by projects, and demonstrate through continuous monitoring the project’s contribution to sustainable development.

In other words, when Hyundai offsets the carbon from its operations, it does not simply preserve habitat or replant trees, which would be good steps on their own. Instead, they engage with the local populations to create green, sustainable jobs, teaching the residents there how to earn a living through protecting their surroundings rather than slashing them. The chart below explains with visual impact just how the social benefits of clean operations intersect and are proportional. It is from the Araguaia Settlement community, one of the projects of the Ecológica Institute, creators of the Social Carbon Methodology.

In my next post, I will share with you the significance of the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standards in the Genesis Forest Project.

Fomenting the Triple Bottom Line

Corbett Kroehler

Confronting Climate Change. Helping Communities. Conserving Biodiversity.

Last time, I told you about the Genesis Forest Project. I continue grinning from ear to ear whenever I ponder the broad ramifications. Then, I factor in adherence to the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standards of ClimateStandards.org and nearly do a cartwheel. After many years of apathy toward global warming by most members of the business community, the climate crisis is gaining significant traction.

ClimateStandards.org is an alliance of key polluters, environmental advocates and researchers including such big names as British Petroleum, the Nature Conservancy and the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). Together, this alliance has created the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standards. An impressive set of methodologies which evaluate land-based carbon mitigation projects in the early stages of development, the specific requirements call for participants to:

• Identify projects that simultaneously address climate change, support local communities and conserve biodiversity;

• Promote excellence and innovation in project design; and

• Mitigate risk for investors and increase funding opportunities for project developers.

What a powerful combination!

Naturally, I advocate strongly for everyone to embrace energy efficiency as my wife and I have and then purchase carbon credits for the rest. However, as our choices among carbon credit providers grow, we now have a layer of protection against substandard or myopic projects which sequester carbon but do little to assist local communities, create green jobs or foment innovation in the low-carbon economy.

Even if you do not own a Hyundai Genesis, you can offset the carbon emitted by your driving through Hyundai’s partnership with CarbonFund.org in which the Genesis Forest Project is the recipient of the proceeds of offsets purchased. That project adheres to the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standards of ClimateStandards.org making the entire project a deep, lovely hue of green.

Keep at it, folks! You’re doing great!

Fomenting the Triple Bottom Line

Corbett Kroehler

“The Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV) represents the historic floodplain and valley of the lower Mississippi River. The MAV was once a 24.7 million acre complex of forested wetlands interspersed with swamps, cypress-tupelo brakes, scrub-shrub wetlands and emergent wetlands.”

– Ducksunlimited.org

The birthplace of the mass production automobile and subsequently the Big 3 automakers was along the northern tier of the United States, in what we now call the Rust Belt. As more foreign manufacturers have brought production of their cars onto American soil, they have favored the Southern section of the country, particularly the Southeast.

While much of North America was wooded before European settlers arrived, no region has suffered worse deforestation during the last century than the Southeast. One of the healthiest regions of the Southeast used to be the MAV. It still has thriving pockets but mostly has a degraded environment.

Covering portions of Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee, the Mississippi Alluvial Valley is a huge area with a major role to play in regulating our climate. Since cars are a major source of damage to the environment, it is fitting that many of the world’s cleanest cars now are being manufactured in and around the MAV.

Now, to bring us more encouraging news, Volkwagen has partnered with CarbonFund.org to create the VW Forest in and near the Tensas River Wildlife Refuge in northeastern Louisiana. This is no mere planting of trees. It is a planned forest with arborists collaborating to maximize the benefits of carbon sequestration and habitat preservation.

Part of the Volkswagen Zero Carbon Project, I would like congratulate the VW leadership for its forward position on reforestation with the VW Forest. Since the automaker’s homeland of Germany also needs extensive reforestation, it is appropriate that some of the wisdom of those efforts is being applied to the United States in general and the Mississippi Alluvial Valley in particular.

This may well be the new meaning of Fahrvergnügen!

Fomenting the Triple Bottom Line

Corbett Kroehler

I spend quite a bit of time here on Keyboard Culture Global Warming on coverage of deforestation. Some deforestation is relatively benign, part of the natural growth of the global population. Much of it, however, is industrial and grotesque, with vast areas felled seemingly overnight and nothing but ugly open space without a whit of nature left standing.

Since clear cutting has not been common practice in the more enlightened industrialized nations for some time, many of us have no grasp on how devastating it can be. On the other hand, because strip mining remains somewhat prevalent, especially in areas with geological deposits of uranium, we can recall our emotional reaction to the enormous wounds on the landscape left by that ugly practice.

Mountaintop removal mining is to forests what strip mining is to glades and prairies – to be avoided with vigor. How do we stop mountaintop removal mining, though? Government bans, of course, are vital and I have high hopes that President Barack Obama will reinstate the bans which his predecessor loosened. However, another avenue is to convince banks to stop financing projects which engage in mountaintop removal mining.

Citi is an example of a bank which is making large strides in saving forests but which still invests in projects which practice mountaintop removal mining. Back in October, I told you about the superb reforestation project which Citi has undertaken. My praise for it has not changed. However, the arithmetic is inescapable. Mountaintop removal mining destroys trees with great rapidity and the landscape where trees can be replanted. No amount of investment from incremental programs such as Citi promotes can undo such damage. Only the cessation of mountaintop removal mining can do that.

I call on all investment banks which fund such mining projects to mend their ways as a new year’s resolution. To learn what you can do to help stop the forest carnage, visit

ILoveMountains.org

Fomenting the Triple Bottom Line

Corbett Kroehler

Last time, I told you about mountaintop removal mining and the role of investment banks in funding it. A counterpart in the financing of forest carnage is Bank of America, roughly the same size in terms of assets under management as Citi. The good news is that Bank of America has mended its ways. While the environmental community will need to remain vigilant, the moment is ripe to congratulate BofA and all residents of Appalachia for this important victory.

Of course, it would not have happened with many hours of thankless hard work from true environmental pioneers such as the members of the Rainforest Action Network, Appalachian Voices and their allies. My hat is off to you, friends!

Naturally, when these fearless groups began their peaceful demonstrations and non-violent protests, BofA resisted with its last ounce of strength. As so often is the case, such as with Citi, the senior management and board of directors were so insulated from reality and content to focus on quarter profit reports that they could not see the obvious truth that destroying Purple Mountain’s Majesty for a few measly dollars does not constitute good corporate stewardship.

That they came to the correct conclusion is praiseworthy and reminds me of similar victories almost ten years ago over the office supply giant Staples. Rainforest Action Network and many of its friends had won a victory from Office Depot to introduce a minimum blend of recycled fiber content into all of its paper products sold by the ream but Staples resisted. Its senior management stonewalled, ignoring requests for public comment and deflecting accusations that it didn’t care about the environment. However, when some of its stores were subjected to leafleting and peaceful demonstrations which damaged the firm’s public perception, the corporate posture changed quickly and Staples suddenly took on a leadership position in the numbers and types of recycled paper products it offers.

These are the types of victories in which the environmental community must invent in this new century. We receive more bad news about the climate crisis most every week and our forests are key to sequestering some of the carbon which we have dumped and continue to dump into the atmosphere. For this reason, recent victories such as the new lending policy from Bank of America make me smile. I leave you with an excerpt from the new Bank of America coal policy...

“Bank of America is particularly concerned about surface mining conducted through mountaintop removal in locations such as central Appalachia. We therefore will phase out financing of companies whose predominant method of extracting coal is through mountaintop removal. While we acknowledge that surface mining is economically efficient and creates jobs, it can be conducted in a way that minimizes environmental impacts in certain geographies.”

Fomenting the Triple Bottom Line

Corbett Kroehler

My first foray into environmental activism came not from the Sierra Club but SaveBioGems.org, a wonderful section of the website of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

SaveBioGems.org takes many of the most pressing environmental issues and focuses them on specific action items for its members, actions which generally consist of outreach efforts such as writing to elected officials, newspapers and other news outlets and their friends, encouraging them to do likewise.

SaveBioGems.org has many important victories to its name and recently it turned its track record of success toward reforestation in the tropics, beginning with Costa Rica. Reforestation of tropical zones is among the most effective ways to combat global warming because tropical forests grow significantly faster than temperate forests. For the proof, just consider the bamboo tree, which often grows as fast as conventional turf grass (but to stalk heights of up to 100 feet!).

Better still, in its first large-scale reforestation project, SaveBioGems.org has chosen to work with an innovative local partner, the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center in Costa Rica. Not only will this important alliance provide volumes of crucial information about how best to replant tropical forests but it will virtually assure success since the forest will be located on the property of the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center.

The good news doesn’t stop there, though. The Revive a Rainforest campaign allows you to purchase a tree for just $10, either for yourself or as a gift. Doing so not only will combat global warming but it will contribute to the body of knowledge of how to reforest the world in the fastest, safest and most environmentally beneficial manner.

To learn more or to purchase a tree, please visit

SaveBioGems.org/costarica

Fomenting the Triple Bottom Line

Corbett Kroehler

OK, so I repeat the message of carbon credits and carbon offsets regularly but let’s be candid. How practical is it for people to live carbon-neutral as I do? Well, I maintain that it’s quite easy but will admit that the task can be daunting at first. After all, it’s nigh on impossible to live in the industrialized world and not produce an excess of carbon versus a bucolic existence.

Might it be helpful to reduce the chore of determining one’s carbon output to something more manageable, at least at first? Yes, indeed, it would. So, today, I’d like to tell you about a wonderful new website from a wind power firm, WattzOn.com

While it is vital that we understand that most all of our choices, from the types of food we buy to the number of hours we spend in front of the television to how fast we drive our cars, affect our carbon footprint. However, in general terms, the easiest way for most of us to begin to grasp how to reduce it and still live a meaningful, comfortable existence lies in our energy footprint.

That’s why WattzOn.com is such a wonderful website and why it won Business Week Magazine’s best idea of 2008. That’s a very significant achievement and I add my applause to this important accolade.

The website is very easy to use and I encourage you to do so immediately. I will leave you with the telling quote from the WattzOn.com homepage.

“Climate change is a global problem but it’s individuals who will create the solution. WattzOn gives you tools to track your energy consumption, compare it to others’ and understand its consequences in order to discover how to reduce your role in climate change.”

Fomenting the Triple Bottom Line

Corbett Kroehler