Posts by: tom

Why isn’t recycling an indulgence?

The indulgence issue isn't going away anytime soon. In fact, we're seeing it pushed in interesting new rhetorical directions, including calls for a Martin Luther of climate change from no less an environmental personage than Denis Hayes, the father of Earth Day. We can now say without exaggeration that the debate over solutions to climate change is taking on a… read more →

Carbon offsets for the MTV crowd

TerraPass does a lot of media outreach. The day pro skater Lee West came to our offices is something we won't forget easily. If you want to see some good skating and a very reasonable explanation of carbon offsets, then watch away (you'll also get a glimpse of the SF office). The series is part of PBS' "Hot Politics" series… read more →

Can economically viable projects generate carbon offsets?

Internationally, carbon offsets can improve economic viability for clean energy projects. Will the same be true in America? Can economically viable projects generate carbon offsets? A journalist asked me this question the other day, hoping for a simple yes or no answer. The answer is yes, but understanding why is not necessarily so simple. This might seem counterintuitive. If a… read more →

Yahoo! goes carbon neutral

Breaking news: The folks that brought you your first email account are going carbon neutral in time for Earth Day 2007. The impact is pretty large, about the same as 25,000 Out of Towner TerraPasses. Full disclosure, the reductions are not sourced from TerraPass (we're focused on individuals) . Yahoo! founder David Filo's blog announcement lays out the details and… read more →

IPCC: All (climate) politics is local

Did the IPCC get a PR agency? Gasp!On Friday, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released yet another poorly edited but brilliant compendium of climate science, this time detailing the impacts of climate change(pdf). Today, the IPCC kicked off a series of regional news conferences to publicize portions of the report most relevant to local geographies. The regional briefings played… read more →

Conservation tip: Measure your energy use

Real time feedback in a car can change your driving patterns. What about your house? Many users of Prius' and other hybrids report that simply having the fuel efficiency counter on the dash has changed their driving behavior. What used to be a "get there as soon as possible" task is now turned into a "get there with the highest… read more →

What is a mission-driven business?

The recent USA Today article on carbon offsets reminded me how many people are still unfamiliar with the concept of a mission-driven business. We're proud of our business model at TerraPass, and it occurs to me that our audience has grown so much recently that it's a good time to reintroduce ourselves and let people know what we stand for.… read more →

New TerraPass project: Blue Canyon Wind Farm

TerraPass members now support 9% of this wind farm in Oklahama. Wild Elk rally in the foreground to support low-carbon energy sources. TerraPass experienced dramatic growth last year. This Friday we crossed another milestone: 40,000 people carry some form of a TerraPass. With all that demand, we've been looking for new projects to support. The latest is a good example… read more →

104 pounds in 18 seconds

Compare CFL lightbulb adoption in your areas versus the rest of America 18 seconds is the time it takes to change a lightbulb. For each bulb you switch from incandescent to compact fluorescent, you'll save 104 lbs of CO2 per year and about $30 in energy bills. For most Americans, that's an equivalent impact to not driving for three days.… read more →

American carbon is more expensive than European. Discuss.

Something strange happened today. The price for carbon allowances in the European Union dropped below the price of voluntary carbon offsets traded on the Chicago Climate Exchange. We've long argued price has little to do with the fundamental quality of a carbon offset, in spite of the consistent critique that because the CCX trades at a much lower price than… read more →
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