The trees are planted in Plumas National Forest in Northern California by The Arbor Day Foundation, the partner in the United States for the “My blog is carbon neutral” initiative.
Many travellers are concerned about the impact that their movements around the planet have on the environment. It’s easy to see how things like flights and bus travel can contribute to the size of your carbon footprint. But did you know that the average blog receiving 15,000 visits a month has yearly carbon dioxide emissions of 3,6kg (8lb.)? This is due to the immense energy usage from (mainframe) computers, servers and their cooling systems. An average website causes about 0.02g (0,0008oz.) of carbon dioxide for each visit.
Since a favourite activity of travellers (including ourselves) is blogging, it is important to include carbon offsets for your blog if you are concerned about the environment. The good news is that, according to the lovely people at the “Make it green!” initiative, one tree neutralises the carbon dioxide emissions of your blog. They are planting trees in cooperation with the Arbor Day Foundation in Plumas National Forest in Northern California for their project to neutralize the carbon footprint of blogs. Thousands of wildfires burned down many national forests over the past ten years and 88 acres of Plumas’ were destroyed by two fires in 2007. To help replanting they need the support of bloggers all over the world. For every participating blog they plant a tree.
To find out how you can participate please visit kaufda.de – this is the
German based company responsible for this initiative. You’ll receive a button to place on your website and your tree will be planted in the coming months.
The Arbor Day Foundation is a non-profit conservation and education organization with the goal of helping reforest 5,500 acres of Plumas National Forest with 792,000 trees.
What steps do you take to minimise your negative impact on the environment and ensure responsible travel and/or a benefit to the local population? Please share your tips in the comments below.
