Carbon Offsets

TFI
Tropical Forestry Initiative

OFFSET YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT
by SAVING A TROPICAL FOREST

Step 1:
Enter information about your energy usage to calculate your annual carbon footprint in tons. Go to the calculator, and then return here with a number. Or, you can just use the average of 20 tons per person in your household.

What is a Carbon Footprint?
Every year, the average American produces approximately 20 tons of CO2. This comes from a variety of sources that we use in our everyday lives: cars, airplanes, home electricity and heating, and even our waste (garbage). The carbon dioxide released through our consumption of fossil fuels (gas, diesel, oil) is released into the atmosphere where it exacerbates the greenhouse effect on our planet. This gas is responsible for much of the global climate change we are experiencing now and will continue to feel through the future. Such effects of high levels of CO2 include drastic weather events and can even result in the loss of entire ecosystems through temperature increases.

Step 2:
Multiply the number of tons by $15 to determine the cost of offsetting your carbon footprint.

What can you do about it?

TFI is instituting a carbon offsetting program where you can make your car, your home, your lifestyle, carbon neutral. By planting one tree in the tropics, 1 ton of CO2 will be taken out of the atmosphere over the course of the tree’s life. Therefore, through reforestation, massive amounts of carbon can be sequestered in forests. By spending a mere $15/ton CO2 that you emit, you can become carbon neutral for the year, while also reforesting denuded landscapes in Costa Rica.

Step 3:
Write a check to "Tropical Forestry Initiative" and send it to
Tropical Forestry Initiative
PO Box 015
Binghamton, NY, 13903-0015
You will receive a certificate showing the number of trees planted and the tons of carbon offset.

Step 4:
Repeat as appropriate, depending on the period (or activity) used in calculating your carbon footpring, E.g. by year, by month, or by plane trip.

Deforested River

Tree Nursery

Why Tropical Forestry Initiative?
Tropical Forestry Initiative is a non profit organization (so your donation is tax-deductible) that has been part of a small Costa Rican community for more than 15 years. We differ from most other carbon offset programs in that:

we plant trees that are NATIVE to the region
we plant them in MIXED plantations instead of monocultures.and
we focus much of our efforts on ENDANGERED tree species.

We are doing our best to regenerate the natural forests that existed before deforestation occurred.

The trees planted are part of a larger watershed restoration project planned for the Guabo Valley in the southwestern portion of the country. Previously strong streams now run dry because forests have been cut to the very stream bed. Large rivers grow huge and turn brown with the sediment coming off the deforested landscape. This sediment is the very fertility of the land, and with every rain event, more and more fertility is leaving. Water has been deemed unfit to drink because cattle waste passes unfiltered directly into streams that run through pastures.

The funds generated through this offset program will go to developing a 3 to 5 year reforestation and watershed protection stream. Land owners will be paid the equivalent of approximately $2 for each tree planted, spaced out over the course of 3 years. Every year we will return to check on the status of the trees and to take measurements. If the land owner wishes to continue to receive payments, they have to take care of the tree until it is big enough to outcompete the surrounding vegetation.

Through this program we hope not only to protect streams and rivers, but also to create biological corridors that will enable animals to move freely through once fragmented landscapes.

Is tree planting really valid for carbon sequestration? A legitimate question.

With the rapidly growing awareness of the causes and effects of global warming, a number of schemes have been promoted that purport to either take carbon out of the atmosphere or prevent it from going there in the first place. Prominent among these is tree planting. The logic is that a growing tree takes carbon from the air and incorporates it into wood, However, to truly evaluate the effectiveness of such proposals, one must use life cycle costing. For example, if primary rain forest is cut down to plant the trees, then it is easily calculated that the carbon released from the leveled forest is much greater than that incorporated into the newly planted trees, a problem greatly exaggerated if the newly planted trees are themselves cut down in 10 or 20 years for paper pulp or lumber.

Thus many people have become quite suspicious of carbon sequestering plans that involve planting trees. It is unfortunately true, for example, that conservation payments have been made for the planting of monocultures of non-native tree species to be harvested for pulpwood or lumber. It was partly in reaction to this that TFI began in the first place with reforestation practices based upon planting mixed species stands of native tree species.

TFI’s position

TFI is well aware of these concerns and will not plant any trees for carbon credits on land from which existing trees have to be removed. We will use land that is currently in pasture or has recently been used for farming. In that way our trees will be taking up carbon that would not have been previously removed. We also work with landowners to plant trees that will stay on the land where they are planted and part of our system is to give landowners payments for the first 5 years that the trees are kept alive. This will help insure that the young trees are kept clear of weed growth that otherwise might overwhelm them. Eventually, of course, a few of the planted trees may be cut for lumber but by that time this will mostly involve removal for thinning and not really detract from overall carbon removal capability. It should also be noted that our plantings will also be planted along streams for watershed protection and so will also decrease erosion and provide cleaner water.