What You Can Do

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and...Retire!

There is an ever growing body of evidence that way we all live is having a marked influence on our global climate. Recent studies have shown that 2005 was the warmest year in record and that concentrations of CO2 have reached levels not seen for the last 650,000 years.

We see around us that of the urgent predictions made by climatologists more that 10 years ago are now taking place. We are facing a larger number of stronger hurricanes, vast areas of severe flooding and drought, an enormous loss of Artic ice, a rapid retreat of glaciers, and a severe strain on many of our fragile ecosystems.

According to the US EPA, the United States is the largest single emitter of greenhouse gases in the world and estimates that we emit 7,122 million metric tons of Carbon Dioxide and other greenhouse gases (2004). About 45% of these emissions result from our modern lifestyles and our increasing need for transportation and residential energy.

The Clean Air Conservancy has introduced the NETZERO program to help individuals and families calculate their own daily greenhouse gas emissions and then retire the equivalent amount in CO2 emission reduction credits. Although the U.S. is not part of the Kyoto Protocol, there are a growing number of markets in the United States that allow companies to register and sell large blocks of greenhouse gas emission reduction credits.

The Clean Air Conservancy can help you calculate your annual emissions and then on your behalf, retire CO2 emission reduction credits equivalent to your own "carbon footprint". Each year, your emission reductions credits will be permanently retired in your name into our Clean Air Conservancy Charitable Trust.

Your participation in our NETZERO program rewards companies and organizations that are reducing greenhouse gases. At the same time, the purchase and retirement of large blocks of reductions can raise the cost of emitting and lead companies to adopt more economical reduction technologies.

As part of the NETZERO program, the Clean Air Conservancy has developed a series of calculators that can you can use to estimate your own contribution to greenhouse gases. Our website will have calculators for:

• NETZERO Home Energy
• NETZERO Workplace
• NETZERO Boating
• NETZERO School
• NETZERO School Bus
• NETZERO Gifts
• NETZERO for Kids
• NETZERO Air Travel
• NETR ZERO Event Greening

Please contact us by telephone or e-mail so that we can help you live NETZERO.

If you are a company with banked emission reduction credits please consider making a tax-deductible contribution of these credits to the Clean Air Conservancy.