Travelocity to help customers plant trees
When you travel, do you book your flights, hotels or cars online? If so, you now can regenerate forests and wetlands through a partnership with Travelocity and The Conservation Fund's Go Zero program.
When you make reservations, you can add a tax-deductible donation for The Conservation Fund, which will plant trees. In that way, travelers can buy "carbon offsets" to "zero out" the carbon dioxide emissions created by flight, hotel and car use.
According to the Travelocity site,
A national wildlife refuge in Louisiana will receive the first grove of trees. Bogue Chitto NWR provides habitat for Prothonotary Warblers, Swainson's Warblers, Yellow-billed Cuckoos and White-eyed Vireos among other wildlife.
My question: Is the science valid, or is it just a feel-good marketing ploy?
Prothonotary Warbler courtesy of U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
When you make reservations, you can add a tax-deductible donation for The Conservation Fund, which will plant trees. In that way, travelers can buy "carbon offsets" to "zero out" the carbon dioxide emissions created by flight, hotel and car use.
According to the Travelocity site,
Every penny of your donation will go directly to Go Zero Travel, the first program of its kind in the nation.
A contribution of just $10 offsets an average trip including air travel, a one-night hotel stay, and rental car for one person.
$25 negates air travel, four-night hotel stay, and rental car for two people.
$40 equalizes the effects of air travel, four-night hotel stay, and rental car for four people.
A national wildlife refuge in Louisiana will receive the first grove of trees. Bogue Chitto NWR provides habitat for Prothonotary Warblers, Swainson's Warblers, Yellow-billed Cuckoos and White-eyed Vireos among other wildlife.My question: Is the science valid, or is it just a feel-good marketing ploy?
Prothonotary Warbler courtesy of U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
posted by Amy at 4:58 PM
4 Comments:
Hey Sheridan and Amy, its like Texas all over again! I just wanted to say that ploy or not, I agree with Sheridan, when you plant a tree - povided it's native to the area - then you are definitely helping the environment in that area. I hope this plan lasts a while and does some good =)
Hey Leigh and Sheridan!
L: Good point about native species. I hope that's been a consideration in the Go Zero program.
S: Sounds like you work for a forward-thinking employer. Very cool.
I believe that the carbon offset programs calculate the number of trees to plant per trip based on the amount of carbon that the trees will be removing from the air when they are mature or the amount it will remove over the course of its lifetime. A tree planted now could take several decades to mature, depending on the species. So that benefit is spread over a long period of time, and in the short term, the carbon is still going into the air. It is still an improvement, and better than nothing, but it isn't exactly carbon-neutral either.
Thanks, John.
Digging a little, I see the Wikipedia entry says, "Some controversy surrounds carbon offsets, in particular tree planting projects, due to the uncertainty about the science and accounting of sequestration coupled with criticism from community groups living near projects who have in some cases been adversely affected."
Interesting.
Post a Comment
<< Home