Carbon Offset Bird Project
THE CARBON OFFSET BIRD PROJECT …. WHAT, WHY, HOW, AND WHERE??
Some folks have actually suggested that birding is bad for the birds! Here’s the reasoning: as we pursue our interest, enjoying birds, and even racing around the county (or the state or the country or the planet) building our bird lists, we are also burning fossil fuels—lots of them—that add to greenhouse gas emissions. Scientific data show that these greenhouse gases are long-lasting, global, and have already negatively affected bird habitats and migratory patterns.
What can we birders do in response to this situation?Do we go on a guilt-trip or even stop birding? Of course not. It does no good to just feel bad or deprive ourselves of the pleasure we get from birding.
We do something positive to address the issue itself. We realize that there is an environmental cost to our birding and we take our responsibility seriously.
The Carbon Offset Bird Project (COBP) is part of that effort. It allows us to voluntarily contribute money to offset our birding-related carbon emissions—those that come directly from our birding activities. The funds will be used to acquire, conserve, and restore quality bird habitat in our local area—often places we go birding. This COBP project is modeled loosely after other carbon offset programs involving air or vehicle travel, but it is specifically tailored to local birders and local birds—a perfect example of Think Globally, Act Locally.
THE ISSUE
In the United States carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions average 27 tons per-person per year. (World per person averages are closer to 5.5 tons.) To understand the magnitude of that number, one ton of CO2 may be emitted when an American:
Travels 2,000 miles in an airplane
Drives 1,350 miles in an SUV
Drives 1,900 miles in a mid-sized car
Runs an average household for two months
Has a computer on for 10,600 hours (442 days).
At the same time, there is a growing movement at both the corporate and individual levels toward offsets: mitigating our carbon footprint by reducing or displacing the CO2 that we help emit, in some other place or by some alternate method.
There are numerous carbon offset programs already underway, some involving laudable mitigation and renewable energy campaigns. Two examples: UPS Sustainable Shipping Program and United Airlines Sustainable Travel International. These often include renewable energy projects in the United States (e.g., solar or wind), and carbon reforestation projects or renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in developing countries. But the COBP is intended to offset a particular behavior (birding) with a particular local solution directly related to our birds and their habitats.
THE CARBON OFFSET BIRD PROJECT
First, a few basic principles:
Participation is encouraged, but is totally voluntary.
Participants offset ONLY their carbon footprint for birding activity-related emissions.
Boulder County Audubon Society will establish and maintain a fund called the COBP Fund for contributions from members to offset the CO2 they generate while birding.
Disbursements from the COBP Fund will go to local projects that mitigate atmospheric CO2
A committee will identify projects in the local area for which the funds will be spent and will distribute the funds as requested/required. These projects will relate directly to reducing CO2 in the atmosphere by acquiring, conserving, restoring and/or enhancing habitat.
HOW IT WORKS
To make the program as simple as possible, there are no complicated formulas and only one simple form for calculating the COBP contribution. It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3: calculate the offset, pay the offset amount to the COBP Fund, distribute the funds to appropriate local projects.
Annually, or as often as they wish to do so, birders will total the number of miles they have driven for birding activities and the number of miles they have flown on birding trips. Then they make two simple calculations:
Land Travel Carbon Offset: Multiply the number of miles driven per vehicle on birding trips (roundtrip) by the rate per mile based on the fuel efficiency of each vehicle.
Vehicles with 30 or more mpg fuel efficiency: multiply by 1 cent per mile.
Vehicles with between 15 and 30 mpg fuel efficiency: multiply by 1.5 cents per mile.
Vehicles with 15 mpg or less fuel efficiency: Multiply by 2 cents per mile.
Air Travel Carbon Offset: Multiply the number of miles flown times the number of birders in the family who took the birding trip times .5 cents per mile.
For example, a couple, both birders, drive 2,000 miles per year in their SUV and 1,000 miles per year in their compact car to bird. Their carbon offset would be (2,000 x .02) + (1,000 x .01) = ($40 + $10), a total of $50 for their land travel.
They also took a trip to Peru and flew 6400 miles roundtrip for each person: 12,800 (6,400 miles each) x .0025 = $32 offset for their air travel (which equates to about $15 per ton of CO2 generated).Their total Carbon Offset for the year would be $82.
Alternately, the couple might decide to pay a set amount each year that approximates their carbon footprint, say $100.
The couple writes a check to BCAS/COBP Fund for whatever they decide is their share of birding-related carbon emissions.
All offset contributions will be acknowledged by BCAS.
A receipt will be provided on request.
All participating contributors will also get a special COBP logo-sticker to attach to their binoculars or other birding gear, showing their involvement in the project.
BCAS can invite local organizations involved or interested in habitat conservation to present proposals to the committee for appropriate projects. BCAS Members can get a summary of the proposed use of the funds and see the organization receive the check at a meeting. Members can also inspect the results personally.
SOME FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
“There are LOTS of carbon-offset campaigns out there, but COBP was developed to help secure quality bird habitat,” says Paul Baicich, long-time bird conservationist and co-founder of Great Birding Projects. “The vital thing is to pick the right projects that actually serve to mitigate our carbon footprint while birding.”
Birders care about conservation. They express their support for bird conservation with their dollars by this voluntary contribution. They put their money where their binoculars are. Programs such as these help dissolve the lingering guilt birders feel for burning fossil fuels to watch birds. It feels good to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem.
Thousands of dollars can be collected and ready for use when habitat projects require money. As an example, in a single weekend event in 2011, the Midwest Birding Symposium collected over $4,000 for a habitat improvement project at Meadowbrook Marsh in Ohio near the meeting site. There was no overhead for program management and the funds were extended via a partial match by the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Perhaps COBP is an idea whose time has come:
—It’s a positive and constructive way to mitigate our activities and to build immediate bird-related conservation
—It’s a real 21st-century conservation vision where carbon offsets equal bird habitat conservation, a true win-win for the birds… and for birders.
Resources and References
Distance Calculator:
Enter your starting point and ending point and calculate the distance in miles, kilometers, or nautical miles. It also gives the latitude and longitude of both locations.
http://www.infoplease.com/atlas/calculate-distance.html
WebFlyer:
Enter your starting airport code and all stops in between to your end point airport code and calculate one-way and round trip distances in miles or kilometers.
http://www.webflyer.com/travel/mileage_calculator/
How Birders Can Conserve Habitat with Carbon Offset Donations for Birding Travel—The Nature Travel Network: