Are Various-Carbon-Offsets
For Reducing Emissions Meaningful Enough?

Ensuring various-carbon-offsets are gold-standard legitimate, is very important towards helping achieve carbon-neutrality.

There are three main types of various-carbon-offsets that address the carbon footprint issue today.

They involve tree-planting, renewable energy and energy conservation. Each helps to reduce pollution, restore natural habitats and resources, and use less oil or none at all.

Carbon-neutrality refers to balancing the emissions put out by an individual with purchased carbon-credits to offset the difference. This is also referred to as trying to achieve a net zero carbon-footprint.

These offsets are also known as emission-reduction-credits.

They come from the projects of different organizations and are bought and sold through world-wide brokers.

The offsets are measured in tons of carbon dioxide and the result is less of that and other greenhouse gases in our atmosphere.

For example, a buyer can purchase offsets from a Solar Energy Company. The money will help fund the Solar project therefore making that project economically feasible.
The buyer is happy because the money went to a good project that is energy-responsible, and also because this aids or "offsets" the greenhouse emissions of the buyer.

Contributing to these projects are sometimes less expensive for the purchaser instead of paying to eliminate his own carbon dioxide emissions.

For the most part, this whole concept of carbon-offsets is
unregulated. Some projects do not necessarily address the
real concerns, that being fossil fuel dependance among other
issues. This means that some of the various-carbon-offsets
are better than other ones.

To be sure that these offsets are of high quality, they must be validated by third parties who are reputable in the field. These third parties have standards of criteria environmentally that have to be met and labelled as such.

There a number of types of standards that exist right now and more are coming out everyday.

Some standards are more or less "strict" in terms of the types of criteria that has to be met to be considered legitimate.

The criteria this is based upon are the answers to sets of questions geared to finding out specifics on the project itself.

Gold-Standard is considered the highest standard and is recognized worldwide.

Energy-efficiency and renewable energy projects only qualify as they are considered low risk in regards to the environment, and they encourage getting away from the use of the fossil fuels.

So, before you commit to purchasing carbon offsets, find out if they have been "recognized" as legitimate.

Carbon-neutrality refers to balancing the emissions put out by an individual with the purchased carbon-credits to offset the difference.

This is also referred to as trying to achieve a net zero carbon footprint. People take the meaning of carbon offsets a step further and apply it to themselves personally.

They look for ways in their own lives to cancel out or counterbalance or offset the carbon-footprints they make.

They may change their entire mode of travel, or change their lighting system at home for example. It can be any number of things, and it is all done to offset carbon emissions.

They make changes in everyday habits to try to compensate for what can't be helped.

These efforts can take the extreme forms, but if these are not realistically possible for them, than the efforts will simply be on a lesser scale. But, they will be effective and meaningful just the same.

When you feel like there is nothing else you can possibly do individually in your own daily life, you can make use of the various-carbon-offsets out there by contributing money to fund the causes of the many credible environmental projects out there.

Or, you can simply volunteer your time and energy which will be much appreciated as well.

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