Lesley Marcus Carlson, cofounder of Carbonfund, answers questions | Grist | InterActivist

Questions from Grist editors | Questions from readers

Lesley Marcus Carlson, cofounder of Carbonfund.

After reading the Carbonfund website, I feel an odd mixture of inspiration and disbelief. Can we possibly plant enough trees and capture enough methane from landfills to stabilize earth's climate? Can I really bring my carbon footprint down just by sending $30 to Carbonfund, and then continue my American lifestyle -- driving a car and jetting across the country? -- Karen Litfin, Seattle, Wash.

Yes. Carbonfund makes it easy and affordable to reduce your climate footprint to zero, or even go beyond zero. Put it this way: if everyone offset their carbon footprint, we would eliminate climate change (over time, we are already on the hook for some change).

If you emit 10 tons of CO2 a year, you can offset 10 tons a year, and that takes you way beyond the goals of Kyoto (6 percent below 1990 levels). While we can only plant so many trees and capture so much methane, the energy efficiency and renewable energy options are limitless. Also, the more we invest in these technologies, the lower the price will become. If we can get wind or another renewable energy to the same cost as coal and gas, it will skyrocket and become the default technology. Carbonfund supporters are helping us all get there.

I don't get it. How can buying somebody else's good practices offset the damage I do? This sounds like accounting sleight of hand to me. -- Cindi deCapiteau, Heathsville, Va.

Not at all. First of all, you are supporting the "good practices" and reducing CO2 -- you're just doing it in a different location and for much less money than doing it yourself, because we can "offset in bulk."

You can wash away these footprints.

Think of it this way: your donation to the American Red Cross is a more efficient way to help the Katrina victims than going there yourself and setting up a donation site. Similarly, Carbonfund is an efficient and practical way to reduce your carbon footprint. It would not be practical or cost-effective for everyone to purchase a small windmill, but I hope one day we all get our electricity from wind or another renewable energy source.

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ADVERTISING POLICY

Do you have any major companies working with Carbonfund right now to offset their emissions? -- Name not provided

Working Assets, the socially responsible telephone and credit-card company, is encouraging its customers and noncustomers to offset their climate footprints. Working Assets is matching five tons of carbon offsets free for every person who goes Zero Carbon. It is a great third-party endorsement for Carbonfund.

We are also working with a few companies who want to donate carbon offsets they have already purchased for their environmental programs. We will ensure the carbon offsets are permanently retired, and the companies will get a tax deduction for the donation.

Of the people who donate to Carbonfund, do you have a sense of how many are one-time donors and how many actually do offset their emissions annually? -- Name not provided

A lot of people donate on a recurring basis, with about half of those recurring annually and half monthly. Recurring donations are a good way to spread out the cost. For just $4.58 a month, you can offset your home, car, and air-travel footprints.

What kind of outreach do you do? How do you get your message out? -- Name not provided

Our outreach is growing but definitely needs some help. Grist has been wonderful, as has Working Assets, Environmental Defense, and some good news stories in the press. But we could always use help. Any marketing experts or journalists out there? If you want to help, please email us at .

How do you choose which renewable energy projects to invest in? -- Brad Nahill, Washington, D.C.

We've been pretty selective so far. Credibility and verification is everything for us and the carbon-offset market right now. We must be able to verify the reductions are real with a solid third-party source. We had to turn down a project in Brazil a couple months ago that we really wanted to support because we could not get the verification we feel we owe our supporters.

How much, if any, do you feel the recent record gas prices will affect the production and consumption of more fuel-efficient vehicles? -- Todd Snider, Ellensburg, Wash.

I think that gas prices have to be high for a while before they impact the cars people buy. Only a small fraction of people buy a car each month, and those people, unless they are inclined to buy efficient cars from the outset, will only buy a hybrid if they think prices will remain high for a good part of the time they are going to own the car.

How is your organization able to survive when you are offering the lowest price for an offset? -- Name not provided

I would ask, why do others charge so much? We are able to cover our costs and offset a lot of CO2 from different types of high-quality projects for just $5.50 per ton.

We created Carbonfund to reduce climate change and to do that, we need to make it easy and affordable for a mass audience to reduce their carbon footprint to zero. The way to reach a large audience is to keep costs down. I doubt we'll get much venture capital for our business model, but it makes sense to us.

Sarma sounds delicious and just right for the wintry months up ahead. Can you provide a good recipe? -- Dror Etzion, Barcelona, Spain

I need to dig it out of a moving box. Come to our site in a couple of weeks, and I'll put it up. It is a great winter meal.

Questions from Grist editors | Questions from readers

Best Footprint Forward

Lesley Marcus Carlson, cofounder of Carbonfund, answers readers' questions