The nitty gritty...

Earlier this fall I went home to Connecticut where I took off to the beach for a few days with old high-school buddies. One drink led to another and soon enough politics found its way to the table. Arguing politics after a few drinks (let alone with friends) is generally a lost cause; just a fruitless process that does nothing but work everyone up. So I shouldn’t have been surprised to find myself isolated, my back against a wall, arguing my side to ears that weren’t listening.

The one argument I continually went back to was to give global warming the benefit of the doubt. Even if one doesn’t believe in it, why not side with safety by acting responsibly and treading lightly just in case global warming is indeed caused by human activity?

I am implementing this carbon offsetting project not to simply play it safe, but because I think global warming is a human-caused phenomenon that individuals can influence in a positive manner. There are plenty of ways to reduce greenhouse gases, and any individual, family, or corporation can take steps to reduce their carbon emissions.

While this project will not turn my ski season into a carbon neutral winter, it will significantly reduce my carbon footprint and ease my mind. Starting Friday, November 28th I will begin tracking miles driven and gasoline burned to calculate how many pounds of carbon dioxide my vehicle and snowmobile emit.

According to the United States’ Environmental Protection Agency 19.4 pounds of carbon dioxide is created from burning one gallon of gasoline. While that seems impossible as one gallon of gasoline weighs just over six pounds, read this for an explanation.

Bring trees into the picture and 19.4 pounds is no longer just an arbitrary number. Trees need hundreds, and many times thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide to survive, a key component in photosynthesis. Trees undergo a constant process of carbon sequestration (absorbing and storing carbon dioxide over their lifetime), with different species absorbing different amounts of carbon dioxide. Longer living and faster growing trees tend to absorb more carbon dioxide than a short tenured or slow growing tree.

According to Reforest the Tropics, a non-profit Costa Rican organization, a Central American hardwood tree would absorb an average of about 80 pounds of carbon dioxide annually, and has a lifespan of over 25 years. Differently put, 25 hardwood trees have the potential to sequester about 2000 pounds of carbon dioxide annually. I’ll save more math for a later post as if you’ve read this far, chance is you’re losing interest.

While tree planting or reforestation is just one of many ways to offset carbon emissions, I chose to use this method for various reasons. Nica Dev, the nature reserve I will be working with has planted over 95,000 indigenous trees since 2006, giving it great experience in managing its land and caring for the trees. Studies have also shown that planting trees in tropical regions of the world may actually help slow global warming. And trees can provide countless more uses than simply absorbing carbon dioxide. They provide shade, oxygen, economic opportunities, yield fruit, offer habitats for animals, and many more uses.

The ski season is about to kick off so I’ll do my best to get a few pictures of both my modes of transportation, and hopefully some action shots one of these days. Thanks for the interest, and hope your home mountain is opening soon.