CarbonNeutral's All Celebrity Forests
by Erin Courtenay - Madison, WI on 09.14.05
From taxicabs to soccer matches, carbon neutrality is gaining a lot of momentum these days. One of the major organizations leading the trend is the CarbonNeutral Company - formerly known as Future Forests (perhaps the controversy led to the name change?). We've mentioned their celebrity program in past posts, but a closer look at their website shows off some pretty cool names. In spite of the uncertainty about the efficacy of carbon offsetting, the Celebrity Forests program does reveal some of the who's who of a growing list of "green celebs" who are making environmental protection a priority. Dido, Atomic Kitten, and Iron Maiden are just a few celebs who have supported tree planting programs via CarbonNeutral.
CarbonNeutral uses funds to plant trees in areas designated as "celebrity forests" to soak up the global warming gas, carbon dioxide, produced by making CDs or running tours - and so helping music stars reduce their contribution to climate change.
Here's a short list of some of the celeb's forest projects. You can go to the CarbonNeutral site to purchase trees that will be planted in forests dedicated to the artists.
Beth Orton
To make her latest album 'Daybreaker' Carbon Neutral, Beth Orton has chosen to support forestry in the Scolel Te Social Forestry Project in Chiapas, Mexico.
Belasco
To make their album "Knowing Everyone's Okay" carbon neutral, Belasco planted the Belasco forest in Leipzig. The band felt it was a great way for them to say danke to Germany for their support.
Dido
Dido has supported enough forestry in Mozambique to "neutralise" the CO2 emissions that were given off as a result of producing her new album.
Foo Fighters
The band is supporting forestry as their personal contribution to fighting global warming in Tensas River forest and wildlife reserve in Louisiana.
Melanie C
Melanie's trees have been planted in the Gorongoza National Park in Mozambique. This site is under threat of damage by the unauthorized hunting and coal logging carried out by refugees that live there. The local comunities have joined forces with the government to restore the site to it's natural beauty.
Dominic Monaghan
Dominic, who played Meriadoc 'Merry' Brandybuck in The Lord of the Rings, is CarbonNeutral. He has supported mango forestry in Bangalore India to absorb the CO2 he produces in a year.
I'm still not a fan of this company (bad experience). The celeb angle is cool and promotes awareness, but for normal people the trees are very expensive. The company may've had good intentions, but definitely puts priority on profits. Sorry for the negative, here's the positive. If you want your money to really get some trees in the ground try American Forests. There are countless other organizations (all over the world) planting trees (as gifts) to benefit our global environment & other causes. Just look before you leap!
It looks like this tree is being planted on a highly manicured lawn. What about all of the petrochemicals used in keeping that lawn green and healthy. Is it just me or does this seem counterproductive?
Corey,
That certainly was just for the promotional photos. It probably has little to do with how and where the trees are actually planted.
Perhaps CNC is not an ethical company, but there shouldn't be anything wrong with a business like this being for-profit. Companies that do good work need to be very competitive, perhaps even a bit ruthless, or else their philanthropy budget will simply put them further and further behind competitors who are simply spending all that money on more marketing.
I just saw a presentation by a non-profit that helps the disabled, that started a for-profit business, simply to fund the parent organization. So for both to be sustainably successful, the for-profit business would have to generate substantial profits. I wonder....if they compared the amount of profit they need to generate with the amount of charity work they can afford to do, would they come up with a ratio close to CNC's?
I've heard that by 2010 there will be 5000 GIGAtons of CO2 needing sequestration. The total plant capacity right now on earth is 300 GIGAtons, so we better enlist way more celebs or come up with other methods to sequester CO2 -- like mineralization. That 2010 number is based on projections of China's growth and the (i think) 500 coal burning powerplants they have in the works.
Can someone please tell me the difference between CarbonNeutral, Carbon Fund, and TerraPass? I'd like to buy carbon credits for someone as a gift, but I don't know where to buy from!
(Addendum to my last comment: that should be carbonfund.org)
Never mind Iron Maiden... who are the three hotties in the photo?
Every bit helps but try the real thing: The GreenBelt Movement has done this for decades and accepts donations. 20.00USD plants 5 trees and 500.00USD for a forest -all native species.
http://gbmna.org/w.php?id=5