How You Can Offset Your Carbon Footprint - And Why We All Need to
Climate change and global warming are caused by rising emission levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, nitrious oxide, and other environmental pollutants. And, tragically, fossil fuel-driven industry has caused global pollution levels to spike dramatically over the last 100 years. Our planet is now warming to unsustainable levels, and temperatures will keep rising unless we do something about it.
Global Atmospheric Concentrations of Carbon Dioxide Since the Industrial Revolution (1760-2015)
Last Updated: April 2016
Source: EPA Climate Change Indicators, last certified in 2016.
We all emit carbon and share the Earth, which makes climate change a grave, existential problem we have to solve together. That said, to get to a sustainable, long-term solution to climate change we must:
1. Get corporate fossil fuel money and interests out of politics
2. Elect progressive climate champions who will make decisive, pro-humanity changes to our laws to invest in a 'Green New Deal' and stop deadly pollution
3. Aggressively decarbonize society and transition to a clean, renewable energy-powered grid by 2030 (and we might as well target 2025 in case we're late or can get there faster)
4. Aggressively curb industrial animal farming and fossil fuel transportation, while investing in clean micromibility and high-speed public rail
5. Plant more trees - the most effective "tool" we have to fight climate change
Past those priorities, it's on us to reduce, re-use, and conserve in our everyday lives. Daily choices matter, and what you can't reduce, you can take steps to offset.
Choose Your Offset Method
There are three basic ways to go carbon-neutral. The first is planting verified trees and supporting forestry projects. The second is investing directly into restoration, renewable, and energy efficiency projects that generate verified carbon credits. The third is buying market-based renewable energy credits (RECs). At Brightest, we can help you do all three, calculate your carbon footprint, and provide reporting back so you know the impact you made.
Carbon Offset Anything
Whether you're an organization or an individual, you can offset commuter costs, air travel, events, electricity consumption, food waste, servers, and any other aspect of your carbon footprint. We can provide certified one-off offsets for a specific environmental or CO2 footprint, or create a custom sustainability subscription that meets your needs. For simple, self-serve CO2 offsets, use our carbon calculator offset tool.
Transparent Measurement
We calculate environmental impact and emissions using pre-Trump EPA eGRID research benchmarks, alongside data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) within the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
