As you may know, practically everything we use, eat and do throughout the day produces CO2. For instance, making 1kg of hard cheese generates 12kg of CO2. Inconceivable, right ? And yet, true. Another simple example is the mobile phone : just two minutes' daily use produces 47kg of CO2 per year ! And we could add lots of other ways we cause CO2 emissions daily : driving, heating our house, cooking...
It's rather common knowledge though that we can reduce our CO2 emissions thanks to "green" choices. Driving an electric car or taking the bus instead of your personal vehicle will make your carbon footprint lower. You also might decide to buy food that generates few CO2 emissions.
But there's another way to fight against the carbon dioxide...Did you indeed know that you could offset your carbon footprint ? If the worst thing to do concerning CO2 emissions is to deforest, the best thing to do should be to reforest, and you can do it even without moving from your armchair...
For that, I would like to present you Reforest'Action, a social enterprise created by Stéphane Hallaire in 2010. Its mission is to preserve and restore forests throughout the five continents. It aims to generate benefits for the planet and for humanity as a whole. Since its creation, Reforest'Action has planted more than 5 million trees and generated a positive impact on the living conditions of more than 100 000 people around the world. Reforest'Action selects forestry projects, finances and monitors them in close collaboration with a vast network of technical partners in the field. As it was said by Stéphane Hallaire himself : « It's not just about planting tree shoots. It's a much more complex know-how that requires an approach adapted to each terroir, each landscape, each valley on the planet, taking into account its biodiversity and the culture of the local population. »
If you want to know more and discover the various projects, I invite you to visit the website :
https://www.reforestaction.com/en/about-reforestaction?_sm_byp=iVVSfbP6kqjsPfZ6
On the website, you can help to finance the project(s) you want, in the part of the world you want. It's very easy. You choose a continent, then a country and finally a project, located in a particular town/city or rural area. When that's done, you can choose how many trees you want to "plant" there. A tree only costs 3 euros. You, in fact, only give funds but thanks to them an employer will plant your tree in the place you chose. By planting a tree or more, you get a unique opportunity to reduce CO2 emissions, improve human living conditions, give shelters to wildlife and work to people at the same time !
And you can even do more...You can on the website calculate how much CO2 you produce to know how many trees would entirely offset your carbon footprint. You also have the possibility to buy a tree and to "offer" it to someone else, as a "green" present.
Let's read through the website and tell me what you think of it !
Great article! Indeed, it is not always easy to opt for the "green" alternative, for example I have to take the plane regularly because of my job, etc. In this context, being able to offset your emissions is obviously very interesting. But I have a bit of a concern with the idea of "paying" to offset”. Don't you think it sounds like the "indulgences" that Europeans used to pay to the Church in the Middle Ages? Isn't there a risk of being too easily relieved of guilt, with a few euros? Hugo V.
Hello, it's really amazing what I discovered on this post, I did not know that our cell phone produced CO2, thank you for its information so important for the planet.
Hello Camille, this is an interesting post. I feel full of hope and in the same time skeptical. How can we be sure trees have been planted... even if you can find pictures ? Let's go on a trip ! Anyway, I followed your instructions and I have been calculated how much CO2 I produce each year... and it appears equal to 55 trees... I'm not really sure what it really means but it made me feel plenty guilty anyway ...
I approximately added consommation from transport, home and food, as a"normal year but then I did the same about this year (the Covid one...). The calculator told me that my consommation was divided by 2 : only 25 trees…