Carbon Offsetting Year Two
/As we turned two recently we started to think about how we would offset the carbon of our travels in the bulkmobile over the past year and have opted for two different approaches. Last year we focused on local tree planting but this year we have decided to take it global with GoClimate and to also support UK trees and woodlands via The Woodland Trust.
We came across GoClimate via a recommendation from climate justice & antiracism activist Mikaela Loach on Instagram. GoClimate is a social company who is looking to make it easier for people to offset their carbon. They believe that ‘in order to stop climate change we all need to live climate neutral lives now. The best way to do that is to reduce our footprint as much as possible and at the same time start to offset for the things we can't reduce.’ At the moment we can’t reduce or improve our fuel use so we see offsetting as the best solution out there at present. The usual way that GoClimate works is for you to find out your carbon footprint using their easy questionnaire and they will then recommend a monthly subscription for you, but as we wanted to offset our previous year we bought their giftcard for one year carbon offsetting that more than covered our carbon footprint created by the miles driven in the bulkmobile. Our money will be used to support climate projects through carbon offsetting. They support various projects around the globe including projects that produce renewable energy, such as supporting projects that produce wind energy in India or biomass in Bulgaria. There are also projects that aim to improve methods of cooking, such as helping communities move away from wood burning for fuel and instead move to solar. And then they also support tree projects, such as reforestation of areas that have been deforested, the planting of trees on areas that have not had a forest before, or protection of existing forests. All great work to move towards a carbon neutral future.
As well as our yearly offset we also decided to donate £15 to The Woodland Trust. This was recommended by Cornwall Council as one of the ways to get involved with their Forest For Cornwall Campaign. All money donated to The Woodland Trust goes towards protecting trees and woods, vital for addressing climate change. As written in The Future We Choose '“few actions are as critical, as urgent, or as simple as planting trees. This ancient technology needs no high technology, is completely safe and is very cheap.’
Offsetting your carbon is of course a privilege that not everyone can afford to do but for those that can it is a way to share and use your privilege for good. It is also not the solution, but rather a stepping stone to get us to a better future while technology and world leaders work on the bigger picture. Future planning is essential, as written in The Future We Choose, “we have 10 years to cut our global emissions in half and another 20 years after that, at maximum, to get them to net-zero.” Our future plan is to keep an eye on developments with electric vans and to continue to look into alternative bio-fuels to replace our diesel use. Until then we will continue to off-set our carbon and of course, plant trees where we can!
As well as offsetting we can also petition for a move away from the carbon-intensive economy, with many seeing the Covid-19 pandemic an opportunity to build back better:
Global Justice Now Petition: Stop funding fossil fuels overseas
Greenpeace Petition: Tesco, your industrial meat is destroying our forests
