Planting trees helps offset carbon footprint

When Lisa Haderlein was planning a fundraiser for The Land Conservancy of McHenry County, a nonprofit group that helps protect prairies, wetlands and woodlands in the county from development, she decided to make the event carbon neutral.

To do that, she calculated how much carbon that she expected would be put into the air by the event and then figured out how many trees she would need to plant locally to store that carbon.

"It seems like the right thing to do as we're more aware of the impacts that driving and transporting food and people have," Haderlein said.

In addition to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions by using less energy, people and businesses can offset the carbon emissions they produce by planting trees or financially supporting projects that reduce carbon emissions, called buying carbon offsets.

Haderlein said a tree would store about 1 ton of carbon in its 90- to 120-year lifetime, or about 20 pounds a year. In order to offset the 4 tons, or 8,000 pounds, of carbon that she expected the fundraising lunch and auction to produce, volunteers for The Land Conservancy planted 40 oak trees in Wonder Lake and Bull Valley.

Students from the Environmental Club at Harrison School in Wonder Lake planted 30 oak trees at the Wonder Lake Sedge Meadow, and the Barrington Area Homeschoolers planted 20 oaks at Boloria Meadows Nature Preserve in Bull Valley this month, Haderlein said.

The students will water the trees two-year-old Bur Oak seedlings supplied by Glacier Oaks Nursery in Harvard during the first two growing seasons, she said.

For those who do not have the time or expertise to plant trees, buying carbon offsets is another option for becoming carbon neutral.

"That is sort of the next level of commitment," Haderlein said.

"It's doing what you can to reduce your emissions, and for the things that just by the nature of our society [produce carbon], ... make this initial investment to encourage the creation of more clean energy and alternative energy sources.

At www.CarbonCounter.org, a Web site sponsored by the Portland-based nonprofit organization The Climate Trust, people can calculate their carbon emissions and make a tax-deductible donation to offset that impact by helping pay for a project to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions.

An average United States citizen uses just under 17 tons of carbon each year, according to the Web site. A monthly donation of about $17 or an annual contribution of $200 would offset that carbon, it states.

One project funded by The Climate Trust is truck-stop electrification, which allows semi-truck drivers to turn off their engines and plug into the more efficient electrical grid at rest stops to power their sleeper cab heating, air conditioning and appliances, saving gas and cutting diesel emissions.

Other projects include Internet-based carpool matching, financing wind farms, and a program to improve traffic-signal timing.

The Web site www.NativeEnergy.com describes a similar offset program that supports projects to help American Indians and family farmers build wind farms and systems to manage manure and the greenhouse-gas methane that it produces.

Haderlein said she was not aware of any offset programs that supported projects specifically in Illinois, but the Chicago Climate Exchange offers a venue for businesses to buy and sell carbon offsets.

Scott Kuykendall, president of the Woodstock Environmental Commission, said he had been considering the feasibility of a program in McHenry County that would allow governments to plant trees locally and sell the carbon offsets through the Chicago Climate Exchange for cash.

"It would be nice to make it a win-win situation and actually generate revenue from this," he said.

"At this point, it's just discussion.

How one event contributes to global warming For The Land Conservancy of McHenry County's first fundraising lunch and auction at Boulder Ridge Country Club in Lake in the Hills on Sunday, Executive Director Lisa Haderlein calculated the following:

150: Number of vehicles expected.

40: Average miles each vehicle will be driven.

4,800: Pounds of carbon expected to be produced by the vehicles getting to and from the lunch.

3,000: Pounds of carbon needed to light and heat the room at the Boulder Ridge Country Club and transport and prepare the food.

4 tons: Total expected carbon emissions from the event.

40: Number of trees The Land Conservancy planted in order to remove the 4 tons of carbon from the air over 10 years.