Would I joke about a thing like this? Look, here's proof.
I figure, now, all my trips to the vet are covered, the shipping of my food and acquisition of Yeow! Brand Cat nip toys is covered, production of the (biodegradable) packaging and manufacture, even, of my portion of my litter might be covered. Basically, I hope I'm a carbon neutral cat, perhaps the first home-based carbon neutral cat. That's pretty cool.
And speaking of pretty cool - the Adirondack Council is a very effective not-for-profit organization working to protect the Adirondack Park. They had the foresight to buy 5,000 tons of carbon credits during the big RGGI "allowance" auction in 10 Northeastern states. Those 10 states got together and decided on a cap on carbon emissions. Then, they made all the commercial power plants in the 10 states buy one carbon credit for each ton of carbon dioxide they would spew into the atmosphere. If they use less, they get to sell their credit. And that's the goal, to reduce CO2 emissions by 10% by 2018. When the Adirondack Council folks bought a bunch of credits, they, in effect, secured the retirement of those credits. Supporters can "buy" 3 tons of credits with a $25 donation. I got my three credits when I joined North Country Public Radio - they partnered with our Council friends to provide these to new NCPR members.
The Adirondack Council works on myriad conservation issues large and small. They advocate for conserving the forests and wild places of the Adirondack Park, rehabilitating abandoned mines, curbing mercury use and acid rain (don't even get me started on coal and "natural gas"), and they work on one of my pet issues, reducing road salt use. They aren't the only group doing good conservation things in the park but they get my vote (and my peoples' support) for helping me get this carbon thing under control. It was giving me a bum rap.
