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What's an "offset?"

       Activities in your everyday life add to the emissions that pollute the atmosphere and contribute to global warming.

     You can help stop global warming as well as save valuable tropical rainforests by contributing to our Living Forest program. This is referred to as a "carbon offset" because it reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

     Your offsets go directly to save ancient tropical forests that would otherwise be deforested.

See our
Living Forest Page

 

 


 
We invite you to calculate your climate impact below or go directly to our offset page.
 

Nature & Culture International
Carbon Emissions Calculator

How many people in your household?   Metric tons carbon dioxide
  shown below:
Car Travel
Total yearly car miles:
(All your cars combined)
 
Average gas mileage (miles per gallon):
(All your cars averaged)
Air Travel
Yearly air miles traveled:
(Note: NYC to LA round trip is 5,000 miles)
Home Energy
Average monthly electric bill:
(If you don't know, enter average $100)
Average monthly natural gas bill:
(If you don't know, enter average $105)
For heating oil users only:
enter average monthly fuel oil bill:
Waste   (Based on number of people less savings from recycling)
Do you recycle paper? Yes  No 
Do you recycle aluminum, glass, plastic? Yes  No 
Other   (Based on number of people)
This is your share of the
carbon footprint of USA society.

It takes into account the things
you buy, the food you eat,
entertainment, schools, roads, etc.
I'm frugal or a student
I'm an average consumer
I'm above average
Your Total Yearly Emissions Estimate
upadae TOTAL  
Metric tons of carbon dioxide  
Recommended Living Forest Carbon Offsets:  
(each acre offsets at least 18.2 metric tons)  
 

Click on DONATE NOW!

 
How does this Calculator work?
This calculator gives a rough estimate of your total carbon emissions based closely on the data and calculation methods of the EPA (www.epa.gov) as of January 2008. However, we consider these additional factors not included in the EPA methods: 1) We add the contributions of air travel by using the average medium-flight figure of .45 lbs of CO2 per air mile from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (In reality this depends on the length of flight and type of aircraft.) 2) We add the "Other" category to include the carbon footprint of US society (reported by the United Nations to be 19 metric tons of CO2 per capita for USA in 2006. See http://unstats.un.org.) We customize this option for students (50% less) and for those who are big spenders (50% more). Most carbon calculators available on the web completely ignore the carbon footprint of US society and therefore underestimate personal carbon emissions. 3) We show your emissions in metric tons, the international units for carbon dioxide emission. One metric ton is 2,204 pounds.


Carbon savings   (Updated December 30, 2009)
To calculate the avoided emissions from deforestation per acre, we calculate the total amount of carbon in an acre of forest that would be released if it were destroyed. The tropical forests of this ecoregion have been measured in a recent study, and contain the equivalent of 182.4 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per acre in the trees and other vegetative matter above the ground, that would be released if the forest were destroyed and converted to pastures or similar uses. As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recommends that avoided deforestation carbon projects discount CO2 savings by 50% to accounts for possible natural disasters and the degree to which the project displaces rather than reduces carbon emissions, the adjusted total project carbon offset value is 91.2 tons CO2/acre. Absent protection, at least 20% deforestation is expected to occur in the medium term, and possibly much more. Therefore, the carbon dioxide saved is at least 91.2 * 20% = 18.2 tons of CO2 per acre.


Cost per acre
Forest land is being purchased from private land-owners for an average price of $50 per acre. Long-term management costs another $50 per acre and is being provided by Nature and Culture International.

 
Living Forest is a trademark of Nature & Culture International

 
 

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