Since 1954
The power of community
Since 1954
The power of community
On our How to Reduce Emissions page, you will find solutions and recommendations to counteract and reduce your carbon emitting activities. But, providing solutions to climate and energy problems is such a high priority for the ZEN team that we found it necessary to give you a few more!
Carbon sequestration is a great emissions reducing activity! But what exactly is it? The US Geological Survey defines carbon sequestration as: “the process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide.” There are multiple ways to do this, but the most common and available approach is through plants.
All plants carry out which is released photosynthesis in order to survive. In this process, they take in sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide, and use it to make sucrose (a necessary nutrient for plants) and oxygen (back into the atmosphere for animals and humans to enjoy). Photosynthesis is what allows life on Earth to exist as we know it, but what’s important in terms of carbon sequestration is that plants inhale carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen. In other words, we can positively impact our carbon footprint just by planting more trees and gardens!
If you walk away from this page having learned just one thing, we hope that it’s this: the best thing you can do is maintain flourishing plant life anywhere you can. This could mean having a lawn (the right way, no fertilizers or other artificial growth supplements), having trees and planting more when you can, tending to gardens, or just anything that promotes plant growth.
Here in Boulder, the best method to sequester carbon is to ensure the prosperity of native plant life. For example, the ponderosa pine is a conifer tree with very long and deep roots, making it very efficient at absorbing carbon. When they are fully mature, for example, one ponderosa pine can sequester around 5,800 lbs of CO2. Using a low estimate of around 300 trees per acre in a conifer forest, and 2 million acres of forest in Colorado, conifer trees currently sequester over 3.48 trillion tons of carbon!
Green roofs are an amazing solution to many problems, both environmentally and financially. Essentially, a green roof is a roof on a building that is partially, or completely, covered by vegetation, and usually planted over a waterproofing membrane. One major benefit of green roofs connects directly to the last section: a roof covered with plants sequesters carbon and reduces the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.
In addition to sequestering carbon dioxide and being cool to look at, green roofs also greatly improve the lifespan and protection of a building or household since they detain storm water better than a regular roof and can stay waterproof up to 3 times longer. Green roofs also provide better natural protection from hail and other damage, and can reduce your energy bill by providing cooling in the summer and good insulation in the winter.
In the spirit of transparency, we typically like to provide numbers in order to prove our claims, but in the case of green roofs, there are too many factors at play to provide a specific value. Also, green roof installations require additional structural reinforcements to increase load-bearing capacity to support the weight of the vegetation, soil, and other components. So the amount of benefits that a home or business can receive from a green roof depends on a variety of different factors, including location, how the building is built, and what plants are used. If you are considering a green roof in Colorado, check out a great local option: Green roofs Colorado.
White (Cool) Roofs
Converting 1,000 square feet of dark roof to white offsets the emission of 10 tons of equivalent CO₂ over the lifetime of the roof. To put this in perspective, the average car emits roughly 4 tons of CO2 a year.
White roofs are an effective way to reduce city surface temperatures because of their light color. Light colors, in contrast to the popular dark roof colors, have a high albedo, meaning that they reflect far more incoming solar radiation and therefore reduce the need for cooling a home in the summer.
Flight Offset Programs
Flight offset programs work by donating money each time you fly towards offsetting the carbon produced from your flight. The amount you donate depends on factors such as the length of the flights, distance travelled, etc.
Here are some awesome flight offset recommendations that you can try:
Local Diet and Agriculture Solutions
Boulder, and the rest of the world, have a ton of farms that are sustainably producing agriculture and providing options for you to eat the foods you love while still feeling good about your environmental impacts. Because there are so many great options, we have provided you with this handy guide for where and how to look for local farms and other vendors. Check it out:
Local Diet and Agriculture Solutions.
Sources:
ZEN: Data Metrics and Sources