Can Planting a few trees create a carbon neutral atmosphere for your home?

Here is the nature conservatory’s calculator to determine what your carbon footprint is:

http://www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/calculator/

According to planetgreen,they are a magical species:

“They can be used to sequester carbon. The average tree removes 2,000 pounds of carbon from the atmosphere during its lifetime [almost a metric ton]. Trees curb erosion and can clean over 2,000 gallons of water in a year. Trees can also be used for energy-saving purposes. Shading an air conditioner can save you a little under 5% on your cooling bills. If you planted 20 trees per year, you would offset carbon enough to basically be carbon neutral.”

Here are a few cool links:
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/travel-outdoors/plant-20-trees.html

http://slf-web.state.wy.us/forestry/econ.aspx

http://barnyardsandbackyards.com/

The average American creates 20 metric tons of carbon. The average 2-person family in the United States about 53 metric tons of carbon. I estimated our 2-person family might be more like 60 metric tons as we eat meat, drive long distances, use air conditioning and heating, have some high efficiency appliances like our heat pump but mostly low efficiency ones, we are thermostat conscious but our house is completely electric. We rarely fly anywhere, averaging one trip every 3 to 5 years. We don’t use our fireplace, but we do use a gasoline mower.

We recycle about 60% of our trash and I have started composting too, which increases our recycle rate substantially. We stopped getting paper copies of newspapers. We use a gas grill and we do many things manually ourselves. We are not big consumers, and our hobbies are modest and not consumer-oriented but rather consist of doing things. We use the library for books when we can and read on-line. Our clothes last us for years and years. Our landscaping and gardens are organically maintained. Here's another good link: http://statejournal.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=43496

I have been feeling guilty, like a 'less-than' greenie, so I decided to see if our trees would make us carbon neutral. Guess what? An emphatic “yes” is the answer. Of course, I also learned from the Nature Conservancy’s Carbon Calculator that we produce about 36 metric tons living here together, which is lower than a 2 person US family average of 55 pounds. We could probably do better if we tried a little harder.

1 metric ton = 2204.62262 pounds

We have planted about 120+ trees which are good size now, which a 2000 pounds a year would remove 108.862 metric tons of carbon a year if we keep them alive. So we are better than carbon neutral. If we include our woods, then we have about 400 trees, which would mean our combined trees remove 362.87 metric tons of carbon a year from the atmosphere.

Of course, all of us need to do better than carbon neutral if we are going to have a prayer of turning climate change around. So I will be setting some new goals for myself. I've already given up most packaging on food and we only keep bottled water for emergencies now, but there are still ways I can go. Here is a list of simple things for anyone to incorporate:

* Wash full loads of laundry only
* Turn off the water when brushing your teeth or washing dishes by hand
* Buy local and foods in season
* Plan errands that require driving together
* Reduce meat consumption by a day or two or seven a week
* Compost
* Raise your own garden vegetables and herbs
* Cook more often
* Ride your bike when you can
* Carpool or take the bus

Even one little effort is a start. Your descendants' descendants will appreciate it.

Outside Loos? Men will pay extra... really.

Today I was stumbling through the people I follow on Twitter and came across one tweet that connected me to another website called TreeHugger. Okay, so that site wasn't the deal, it was just a one page article on Outside Bathrooms, or maybe I should just say it like it is. Outhouses.

Yes, my friend, there appear to be a great number of Britains - and other Europeans - who regard their outhouses as valuable amenities. Granted, America still has lots of woods compared to other continents, but this one floored me. I suppose because, like most Americans, I am very impressed when I hear an elegant British accent. Yes, I've been to Europe, but even Madison Avenue knows that if they use anything that we think is a British accent - could be Australian or South African for that matter - we are programmed to believe they are telling the truth. Maybe even that they are smarter... and richer and sexier.

Oh, come on. This isn't news. If we hear a Spanish accent or Italian, we think of lovers ... and if we hear a joyful island lilt we can feel the sun. Okay so my husband has a slight accent which I find particularly engaging, but you would too. Admit it. And if you hear a French accent, don't you think of mistresses,heartbroken spouses retaliating with an affair, a passion for book clubs (not so much reading them but pretending to) and miserably lacking resolution in final scenes in all their movies. I freely admit I have some built-in stereotypes I carry around with me, but impulse stereotypes are not really anyone's fault.

As a matter of fact, if you are out scoping the singles world, fake a foreign accent (but fake it well, of course). You are likely to gain a lot more interest than with a Philly, New York or Boston accent. (Exceptions to this are southern accents, which I find deliriously engaging when they drawl away about sustainability and the importance of keeping our civil liberties.)

This I proved when I was 17 and my girlfriend and I were running around flirting and pretending to be French exchange students. As I had studied French for several years by then, the only challenge I ever got was "Really? Sing Frere Jacques."

Of course, any idiot can sing a children's song, but I could really lay on the thick French accent. Besides, there are oh so many ways to say things like, "Mon dieu! Boujour. Bon soir and of course, au revoir." Hey, it freaked my mother out enough when I started practicing at home to forbid me to do it. It was okay, I had sort of lost interest by then anyway.

So back to the subject of outhouses. I will say that there are some compost toilets on the market now that are highly effective and conserve our water resources, but the article did not indicate if this was a honey-bucket attempt or sustainable. If you know something about this I would love to get your comments. It appears that although in the 1950's this was a source of embarrassment to middle class families in Britain, men have always 'loved them some outdoor loos'. It appears that their gender is also the one maintaining these structures - and willing to pay more for properties with one, so perhaps this is why the women don't object vigorously enough to abolish them. The men appear to actually regard these outdoor enclaves as 'getaways'. (I'll stick with art supply stores, thank you.)

Ah yes, men will always surprise me with one exception. There is absolutely nothing we women can do that will ever truly domesticate our counterparts.