Carbon is Nature’s building block.
Everything that grows is built out of carbon. Carbon is also stored in great quantities in all fossil fuels. When carbon is in its solid form, as in a tree trunk or a vein of coal in the ground, it is harmless, and in fact profoundly helpful and supportive of life as we know it.
When these sources of carbon are burned, carbon is transformed into a gas known as Carbon Dioxide or C02. Increasing accumulations of C02 in the earth’s atmosphere coupled with increasing emissions of other green house gases is responsible for the global warming crisis we now face as a global community.
From Wikipedia – Carbon Footprint.
A Carbon Footprint is “the total set of greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions caused by an organization, event or product”.
For simplicity of reporting, it is often expressed in terms of the amount of carbon dioxide, or its equivalent (CO2e) of other GHGs, emitted.
The concept name of the carbon footprint originates from ecological footprint discussion. The carbon footprint is a subset of the ecological footprint and of the more comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).
An individual, nation, or organization’s carbon footprint can be measured by undertaking a GHG emissions assessment. Once the size of a carbon footprint is known, a strategy can be devised to reduce it, e.g. by technological developments, better process and product management, changed Green Public or Private Procurement (GPP), Carbon capture, consumption strategies, and others.
The mitigation of carbon footprints through the development of alternative projects, such as solar or wind energy or reforestation, represents one way of reducing a carbon footprint and is often known as Carbon offsetting. Carbon offsetting has been criticized for being an unethical way of avoiding to make necessary changes by simply paying somebody else to take care of the problem you are causing.
Participating Businesses are urged to first engage in all reasonable reduction measures.
As one begins this process, it however soon becomes evident that there is no way we can currently reduce our emissions of green house gases to zero.
Every single aspect of our economy from manufacturing to transportation, and agriculture to health care is dependent on fossil fuel derived energy and resources. As we seek and develop alternative sources of energy, and as we begin to think and live in more efficient ways, we are still left with the undeniable reality that considerable C02 emissions from our economic activity will continue and perhaps escalate for the foreseeable future.
The only current way to address this issue head on is to offset the emissions we cannot yet eliminate.
This is what this project aims to achieve, to offset your remaining Carbon Footprint by restoring Mangroves.
Once you have reduced your carbon footprint, this is what you have to do
• Calculate your direct Carbon Emissions
• Translate those emissions into hectares of Mangroves you will need to plant
• Add your Physical Footprint
Once that Mangrove plantation is established, you will have created a purifying mechanism that will continue to sequester the same amount of carbon you emit into the atmosphere, meaning that for as long as those Mangroves stand, you will have completely offset your emissions.