Reducing Carbon, Growing Older

Heavenly Delight (HEB!)

Happy birthday to me!  Nothing to get excited about--no major milestone--just another year.  Just another time to consider what my years on this planet have cost the planet.  For the past several years, I have looked to Cool Effect as a resource to measure my carbon footprint and to offset that footprint by supporting carbon reducing projects around the globe.  Every year on my birthday, the "party" has been to go to Cool Effect's website, look at all the projects, and choose to support one or more that fit with my values.  Over the years, I have supported methane capture, more efficient cookstoves, preservation of wetlands, and reforestation efforts.  I have supported Native Americans and women in developing countries, especially in Africa.  Because Cool Effect pairs its projects with the UN Sustainable Development Goals as well as the recommendations of Drawdown, I could see a direct relationship with those global plans for protecting the planet--and those who dwell on it.

I don't think I'm fooling myself into thinking that a carbon offset is all that is needed to make up for my presence on the planet.  I understand that I have to do more.  That's why, for example, I spend a lot of time thinking about recycling--and all the steps that precede the moment of tossing something into the blue bin.  That first step--Refuse--is the most important, I think.  Do I really need that item?  There are also Reuse and Repurpose.  If I can't refuse something, I try to think of what I can reuse the containers for, how I can repurpose the parts.  Part of consuming these days is looking--before we buy it--at the end of the product's useful life and what will happen to its components when we are through with them.  The more stages we can put our purchases through, the better.

Living as lightly as possible--cutting down on driving, weatherizing my home, and on through the list of reductions--will still not reverse my impact on the planet, but that is no longer why I purchase carbon offsets.  I tend to think of these purchases as investments rather than mitigation.  That is, I think that the so-called offset does not in fact erase my impact on the planet but is instead a positive action taken to protect and regenerate the planet.  As a resident on this planet, I consume the resources of the planet and create waste as a byproduct of being a living, breathing, eating creature.  I have a responsibility to consume and create waste to the least extent possible, yes, but I don't think I have to take it so far that I go live in a cave or stop bathing in potable water.  I do think I have to be mindful of both consumption and waste production--and I do think I need to do something extra.  

This year, I will still purchase a carbon "offset" as a birthday present to me.  Cool Effect has highlighted a project--Gas Busters--that I would like to support.  It has all the hallmarks of an excellent project to fight climate change.  Drawdown lists managing refrigerants as its #1 choice for reducing the effects of greenhouse gases.  Cool Effect links the project to 4 SDGs, including my favorite:  Responsible Consumption and Production.  For an emotional link to the project, I have to note my personal chagrin that Texas is such a polluter, with repeated release of dangerous greenhouse gases throughout the state but especially in the Permian Basin.  While Cool Effect hasn't made the Gas Buster project easily accessible to someone like me, they do indicate that their partner in the project is Tradewater, an organization that focuses on halocarbons and methane and has a project goal of eliminating 3 million tons of CO2e annually.  I've used Tradewater's calculator to estimate my personal carbon footprint and will send them the funds to offset 19.55 tons of CO2e for this year.  

I don't know whether I'll manage that cake in the picture.  HEB used to top it with fresh strawberries, but the last time I checked (well, it's my favorite cake, so I visit it now and then when I'm near the bakery department), it seemed to have some sort of gloopy syrup in the berries.  Might not want the sugar rush this year.  Still, I will party on, knowing that somewhere, somehow, Tradewater is going to destroy 19.55 tons of greenhouse gases in my name.  That is something to celebrate!