The Zero Carbon Christian
June 4, 2008
This post originally appeared in Creation Care Magazine.
Everyone talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it!” That may have been said in years past, but with the recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, we can see it hasn’t been true. The scientists who put out the peer-reviewed report say it’s a virtual certainty that our actions have altered the climate now and into the future. It’s clear to many people, including the Christian leaders who last February announced the Evangelical Climate Initiative (ECI), that government action is necessary, and that Christians should lead efforts to change policy.
In the meantime, what’s an ordinary person to do? The science implies that the response at every level has to start now and to involve everyone. To that end, the folks at the ECI have set up a campaign to walk Christians through the process of reducing their carbon footprint to zero (full disclosure: EEN’s Jim Ball conceived the idea and helped set it up). They began by recruiting ECI leaders to sign on. “We expect evangelicals to lead in this campaign because of the emphasis in our community on personal responsibility and the desire to be obedient to God and to serve Him with our lives,” said Dr. Matthew Sleeth, an ECI signatory and author of the book Serve God, Save the Planet. “First, we’re asking our leaders to make their own personal commitment to reduce their global warming pollution to zero.”
The Cooling Creation campaign has now gone public, with its own website at www.coolingcreation.org. How does it work? In two steps: visitors to the web site first fill out a commitment to personally reduce what they can, and to encourage others to become informed about the campaign. Then they’re asked for money–$99 per year, which the ECI reckons is the amount necessary to pay for 23 metric tons of carbon dioxide reductions. That’s the amount of global warming pollution the average American emits per year, both directly (with your car, home and air travel) and indirectly (from the energy used to make your food, clothes and everything else we consume). The emissions reductions, which are certified, come from projects, including renewable energy (wind, solar), energy efficiency and reforestation.
Several leaders have made their commitments public, including Joel Hunter, senior pastor of Northland Church in Lakewood, Florida, Jo Anne Lyon, Executive Director of World Hope International, and Bob Andringa, President Emeritus of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. “”I believe there is a biblical mandate to be good stewards of the earth, plus I want to be a good citizen. I can afford to give, I need the accountability of making a commitment, and I should easily recoup my donation by following these good practices,” says Andringa.
The idea behind the campaign is simple. Right now you can make some direct reductions cheaply and easily, while others just don’t make sense. Everyone should be replacing incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs); they use one-third the energy and last a lot longer. Many of us should drive less, and walk and bike more. But some actions (for instance putting a wind turbine on your house, or planting your own forest), are just not feasible for most people. The same amount of money spent elsewhere in the economy could give much higher carbon reductions. At some point, it’s more cost-effective to contribute to reducing carbon pollution elsewhere.
That process of reducing carbon pollution elsewhere is called carbon offsetting, and there are a growing number of for-profit and not-for profit enterprises that can help make you carbon neutral by supporting projects that reduce greenhouse gas pollution. Some companies offer carbon offsetting as an add-on service. Computer manufacturer Dell offers PC buyers a chance to contribute to tree-planting projects, to balance out the climate impact of powering their computer.
For its offset program, the ECI chose to partner with Carbonfund.org, one of the handful of reputable, experienced, nonprofit carbon offsetters. Carbonfund.org is ranked as the best value in carbon offsets (they offset the most pollution for the least cost), and their work is audited and verified by third parties using national and international standards.
Comments
One Response to “The Zero Carbon Christian”
Got something to say?
How about the free ones for a value:
http://www.freecarbonoffsets.com