There’s no denying that environmentalism has become an increasingly center-stage topic in recent months (and years), and in many ways that may seem at odds with frequent travel.
So today I wanted to address that, and also launch something that I hope you guys will join me with.
I love airplanes, and I also love being outside
Look, I know some people have strongly-held opinions on this stuff. Mine is that it isn’t a zero-sum game; there are personal and social and political benefits to travel, and enjoying those experiences doesn’t mean a person can’t care about the environment at the same time.
I love nature. Given a choice, I’d always choose to travel to a nature destination over a city destination. I was in Big Sur a few months ago, and as I sit here writing this, I can exactly recall how “fresh” everything smelled with all those trees. Ahhh!
I know there’s a difference between the air quality in Beijing and the air quality in Bhutan, for example. Can that difference be primarily attributed to pollution from planes? Absolutely not. But I also know planes negatively contribute to the environment. It’s that simple.
So I do think it’s my responsibility as a human to do what I can to minimize the impact my actions have on the planet and nature that I love. I do that at home — I don’t drink bottled water, I recycle religiously, I don’t have a gas car, I live in a LEED certified building, etc. Some of these took a bit of an adjustment, but ultimately require minimal effort.
Today I’m excited to publicly share something else I’m doing in recognition of the flying that I do, and I hope some of you will join me.
Why I struggle with carbon offset schemes
We’ve seen some airlines start to carbon offset their flights, and I think that’s great on the surface, and it’s a step in the direction. However, based on my understanding of these programs, it’s also a slippery slope.
While some carbon offset programs are well-managed, many carbon offset schemes can do more to assuage guilt than actually help the environment, and often lack transparency or any way to know what your money is actually going towards.
If you’re just checking a box as part of a ticket purchase, it’s not always clear where that money is going, how the funds are being administered, and in some cases companies are using the concept of carbon credits as a license to pollute more, which just becomes the kind of annoying virtue-signaling that everyone hates.
Similarly, if native plants are cleared by foreign companies to make space for plantations of fast-growing non-native species, there may be a short-term benefit in carbon sequestration, but at the expense of biodiversity and economic opportunity for local populations. And those trees would have to live and thrive for several generations to actually effectively counterbalance the carbon they’re ostensibly offsetting.
That’s why I’m taking a different path. My goal is to do something in recognition of the impact that my travel has on the environment, with the hope of making a more positive contribution to the world. I’m not pretending to “offset” anything.
An approach I hope we can all get behind
Ironically, for someone who has made a career out of oversharing, I’m actually a very private person.
As the years have gone by (and the blog continues to grow) I think it’s increasingly important to not just be more transparent about my values and where I stand on things, but to try and do more good with the platform I have. And ideally in a way that resonates with you guys, and adds to the sense of community that I’ve always loved about OMAAT.
Tiffany and I have spent quite a bit of time over the past several months brainstorming different ways to go about this. We’ve talked about finding local organizations in the various destinations of trip reports, working with various environmental groups, or even just being more visible in the support of LGBTQ youth that Ford and I generally do privately.
Given that I’ve increasingly been planning and taking some “review trips” recently, it seemed most appropriate to focus on something that would have a positive impact on a broader scale.
So we’ll be working with a group that plants trees in partnership with local communities worldwide, and I’m really excited about the potential here.
One Tree Planted
Beyond the carbon offset schemes, there are numerous organizations out there focusing on tree planting and reforestation. We’re choosing to partner with One Tree Planted because we like that their focus is broad, and that the projects they support have tangible impacts to local communities beyond just “here are some trees.”
Many of the tree planting projects are tied to economic or social development work, which have a greater opportunity to influence a community than a plantation full of eucalyptus trees or sugarcane.
A few examples of recent projects they’ve supported:
- Providing trees and coffee plants for a group in Rwanda helping establish small coffee farms and financial independence
- Planting fruit trees in farmers’ backyards in India to provide supplemental food and income sources
- Working with a local group in Peru to teach sustainable agroforestry practices, including planting cacao trees alongside other native plants to create a “buffer zone” near a highly-threatened portion of the Amazon
Other projects are focused on targeted reforestation of native species, like replenishing mangrove forests in Southeast Asia, or areas of California and the Pacific Northwest after the forest fires of the past few years.
These aren’t grandiose efforts, like trying to plant x million trees in a day or whatever — the emphasis is on smaller projects that are sustainable and have a tangible benefit to everyone involved.
A portion of funds are also allocated to ongoing monitoring and care of the trees (not just a “plant a bunch and move on”), and the partnerships with local organizations means there’s a broader and more holistic approach than many other “carbon offset” projects.
We also like the transparency around their expenses, and while there is additional overhead when working with a third-party, we feel it’s a good trade-off given the reach they have, the extra oversight, and the ease of donations.
One Tree Planted is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization and your donation is tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law. To claim a donation as a deduction on your U.S. taxes, please keep your email donation receipt as your official record. One Tree Planted’s most recent IRS Form 990 can be found here.
Our One “Tree” at a Time campaign
I hope you guys will join us in this effort. To start:
- I’ll be personally contributing $1,000, which I’m roughly pegging at one tree for every hour of flight that Ford or I have taken in the past year, which isn’t perfect math, but gave me somewhere to start (and I plan to that on an ongoing basis going forward)
- On top of that, One Mile at a Time will be matching every $1 contributed by readers, up to $5,000
If this resonates with the OMAAT community, then we’ll look at organizing some more specific campaigns over the year, and potentially having (or at least supporting) some tree planting events where we can all do something in person, etc. But I think this is a good start for now.
Bottom line
I’m not pretending that planting trees perfectly offsets frequent travel. For me personally, I do think it’s a step in the right direction.
Ultimately I do think people should be encouraged to travel, rather than shamed — there’s so much understanding and tolerance that people can gain from experiencing new cultures, countries, beliefs, etc.
So I think at a minimum we can all put some effort into at least acknowledging that flying isn’t great for the environment, regardless of how major you think the impacts are.
And I’m excited about working with One Tree Planted, because it’s easier for me to make sense of what they’re doing, and I like the focus on benefitting local communities, compared to your typical carbon offset scheme.
I hope you guys will join us!
On a related topic for US readers, for 2020 IRS is allowing up to $300 in charitable cash donations to be deducted even if you don't itemize. Apparently this exception was part of one of the earlier COVID relief packages.
Great! My personal efforts are: I don't have a car. I usually walk or use public tranportation instead. I recycle. I save water. I save electricity. I don't drink bottled water. I almost don't eat meat. I don't have any kids. I don't have a pool.
Personally your efforts I find disappointing given all the flying you have done over the years and now you want to do something to offset your carbon footprint.
To little to late! Given you have made millions out of omaat I think you could do better!
I love this! You should talk about this more. I did not even know that this was there! I donated. I have been trying to be better for my kids and future ones world so they get to see nature too. So doing this helps a smidge and shows my kids that some adults are at least trying to care about the future even though we won't be there.
Lucky, this is wonderful, BUT, your post is not complete!!!
What card do you recommend I use to make my donation?????????????
Great initiative by OMAAT Ben! Can I suggest you check out Cauvery calling? A project to plant 2.42 billion trees to rejuvenate a river, it has UN approval.
Brilliant, Ben! Count me in.
a "Meat Lover" diet apparently results in 3.3 tonnes of CO2 per year (according to a pretty table on ShrinkThatFootPrint website) - reducing to 1.7 tonnes if you go vegetarian, and 1.5 tonnes if you go vegan.
so just one Business Class JFK-LHR return flight (4.8 tonnes) produces more CO2 than a year's worth of "Meat Love" food consumption !
Oh, I wasn't addressing Ben. I meant in general those who claim to care about combating anthropogenic climate change but still eat meat. Ben obviously has an enormous carbon footprint through flying.
Cargocult - While I fully endorse your call to go vegan, you're completely incorrect.
Comparing the industries directly, meat is far more damaging. Comparing the emissions Ben personally is responsible for, he emits FAR more by flying.
The environmental impact of animal husbandry dwarfs that of flying. Stop eating meat if you care about (alleged) anthropogenic climate change. Otherwise, kindly shut the front door.
In the interests of transparency - will you be including an estimate of how much CO2 each of your trips produce ?
For example a JFK-LHR return in business class produces about 4.8 tonnes, and 6.6 in first class (according to the calculator on Climate Care website).
And according to the Grantham Institute, a single broadleaf tree will absorb about 1 tonnes of CO2 during the tree's lifetime.
Such a great initiative!
While my philosophy is generally "doing something little is better than doing nothing" - this absolutely reeks of PR.
Your travel activities are far more destructive than the average person. While you claim flying is important for culture/education etc. you've ignored the fact that the seeming majority of your travel was "just for the fun of it". You fly convoluted routes for no rational reason and I can't count the number of times you've flown...
While my philosophy is generally "doing something little is better than doing nothing" - this absolutely reeks of PR.
Your travel activities are far more destructive than the average person. While you claim flying is important for culture/education etc. you've ignored the fact that the seeming majority of your travel was "just for the fun of it". You fly convoluted routes for no rational reason and I can't count the number of times you've flown to the other side of the world, hung around in a generic chain hotel for a night then flown back - very cultural of you...
And that's ignoring the fact that you almost always fly business/first and built your business on encouraging that kind of travel. That's solely for your personal comfort and HUGELY increases the impact you have.
Given the enormous revenue you've generated from this activity, donating $6000 is derisory.
Donated. One tree at a time! Thanks Lucky and Tiff!
Nice job Lucky - thanks for finding a worthy charity and making it easy for us to chip in.
@Greenwashing Objector - probably but that's standard for the site -- his site, afterall
@ JLC the reason why the positive comments are outweighing the negative comments is probably because the negative ones are getting purged !
@ ADS / Greenwashing Objector -- We don't purge comments that are negative towards our work or initiatives, just those that are hostile or spam (and there has only been one of the latter, and none of the former on this post).
However, your posting of multiple comments under a variety of handles is a violation of our commenting policy. We encourage disagreement and dialogue among our readers, but creating straw men needn't be a part of that.
Great to see this kind of action. Bravo Ben!
We're in Canada and have been donating to a smaller Canadian tree planting organisation called www.replant.ca they are doing great work out in Nova Scotia and are led by seriously hardcore tree planter and writer on the subject Jonathan "Scooter" Clarke. (with over a MILLION trees planted by his own hands!)
They don't have the "polish" of some of the larger organisations but for grass roots...
Great to see this kind of action. Bravo Ben!
We're in Canada and have been donating to a smaller Canadian tree planting organisation called www.replant.ca they are doing great work out in Nova Scotia and are led by seriously hardcore tree planter and writer on the subject Jonathan "Scooter" Clarke. (with over a MILLION trees planted by his own hands!)
They don't have the "polish" of some of the larger organisations but for grass roots folks doing great work I can't recommend them highly enough.
Our own approach was to look at our overall family Carbon footprint and work with Replant to arrive at a no. of trees to annually and permanently offset that and pay them $1 / tree to plant and maintain them in lands they steward in NS. Even though the actual no. was nearer 2.5k trees we made a one off donation of $5k and as a family feel happy to have tried to undo some of the damage we've probably done over the years!
Glad to see the positive posts far-far outweigh the naysayers here today. It's so easy to sit back, cross ones arms to say "bah humbug, I can't fix everything so I'll not bother to do anything".
That's just a lazy slacker response to responsibility, in my opinion.
But also, to say everyone should stop flying is insular and often comes from those who cannot or do not want to - so it's self-serving.
We are...
Glad to see the positive posts far-far outweigh the naysayers here today. It's so easy to sit back, cross ones arms to say "bah humbug, I can't fix everything so I'll not bother to do anything".
That's just a lazy slacker response to responsibility, in my opinion.
But also, to say everyone should stop flying is insular and often comes from those who cannot or do not want to - so it's self-serving.
We are human, we all want to experience life in our own ways. Some want to travel, some want to read, and one day those who travel will be done and settle down ... and maybe the readers will hope on a RTW trip!
I always applaud those who step up and try to make things better. There is no purity test which anyone can sensibly pass. The conscientious thing to do is make the next decision the best one can - make your next car in a few years an electric, heat your home with a heat pump, insulate your attic, make good choices one-step-at-a-time and you'll end up where you want to be ... just like collecting airline reward miles!
As others have noted, this is why I follow you and stopped following TPG.
Substance. Just because we like to fly doesn't mean our heads are in the clouds.
Thank you for doing the right thing.
Thank you for being smart about it.
Great initiative! One Tree At A Time!
Thank you so much, Lucky and Tiffany! I was really looking forward to reading about what you guys had settled on for your initiative, and I think this is a very well thought out step in the right direction. I will definitely contribute, and I look forward to any in-person events you guys organize later this year!
This is terrific, Lucky. Donated.
What Lucky is doing should absolutely be applauded to raise awareness of the impact of travel.
The issues caused by the impact that humans are having on ourselves (through the actions on our planet) are huge and the causes are tremendously complex. Travel is one piece of a big mosaic where those negative impacts are outsized. We can weigh the benefits of travel against these impacts, but the primary issue is most of us have...
What Lucky is doing should absolutely be applauded to raise awareness of the impact of travel.
The issues caused by the impact that humans are having on ourselves (through the actions on our planet) are huge and the causes are tremendously complex. Travel is one piece of a big mosaic where those negative impacts are outsized. We can weigh the benefits of travel against these impacts, but the primary issue is most of us have no idea of how our individual travel contributes, as we don’t have easy access to information to understand the impact.
So, as it relates to travel, Lucky can help by raising awareness and showing how we can get better and fuller information on which to make our travel decisions. It's not about stopping flying or other travel. For long distances, where time is a luxury, we'll still make the choice to fly. But Lucky can be a voice to help us perhaps understand the impact of that choice where we didn't before, and influence some to make different decisions in the future or that we trade-off elsewhere (whether One Tree Planted, the cars we drive, diet we have and so on).
Should Lucky have to take on that burden? Are governments and businesses doing enough to take action now before significant impacts from climate change hit us? Probably not to both.
But Lucky has a voice that most of us do not. And in the absence of broad action, what Lucky can do (together with other travel businesses and airlines like JetBlue, KLM, BA) is raise our awareness to impact travel has for climate change and enable us to be better informed about the travel choices we make. For Lucky, simply by continuing to talk about what he and the team are doing helps (as the comments and replies demonstrate!).
Lucky – as I mentioned above – I applaud you for doing so, and hope you continue to raise awareness and enable us to be better informed
What is preventing them from posting their 2018 Form 990 on their own website -- and a summary of their 2019 financials, for that matter? Transparency in fund raising is what allows us to see the forest through the trees
@MDA the best carbon credits are from goldstandard dot org about as verifiable as the come. I’d still overbuy, though.
"Ultimately I do think people should be encouraged to travel, rather than shamed"
It doesn't appear that OTP share you view. If you look at their twitter feed - they just linked to an article about "The Right Way to Travel, According to Environmental Experts" which doesn't seem to mention Business/First class flying !
PS Hopefully this version will pass the censor ?
I'm glad you're thinking about the climate crisis, and looking at ways that you can contribute towards a change.
But the most effective thing anyone can do is to adopt a plant-based diet. Animal agriculture emits more greenhouse gases than all forms of transportation combined. So whilst switching to an electric car, or "offsetting" your flights is a good start, these actions won't have nearly as big an impact as if you were to...
I'm glad you're thinking about the climate crisis, and looking at ways that you can contribute towards a change.
But the most effective thing anyone can do is to adopt a plant-based diet. Animal agriculture emits more greenhouse gases than all forms of transportation combined. So whilst switching to an electric car, or "offsetting" your flights is a good start, these actions won't have nearly as big an impact as if you were to turn vegan.
Also you claim that you love animals, well, not factory farming and brutally killing them is a good way to stay true to that.
Out of curiosity - which credit card offers the best rewards for donations like these? Which one did you use for you $1,000 donation? :-)
Well done for finding a charity that contributes to the greater good and that represents your values. In terms of flying I never carbon offset. For business trips I don't get a choice and for personal trips I don't know where the money is going so don't do it. I do however attempt to be more environmentally friendly in other ways - eg when home I walk to walk, when travelling for business I try...
Well done for finding a charity that contributes to the greater good and that represents your values. In terms of flying I never carbon offset. For business trips I don't get a choice and for personal trips I don't know where the money is going so don't do it. I do however attempt to be more environmentally friendly in other ways - eg when home I walk to walk, when travelling for business I try to stay in hotels where I can walk to work, minimise waste in the kitchen etc. For me right now charity begins at home. I am Australian and have friends whose parents have lost their farms/houses in the recent fires so will obviously donate to Australian (Victorian) charity/charities. The challenge is to work out which charity (there are so many at the moment). I have spent extensive time in India (worked in Mumbai for a year plus numerous other trips) and to a lesser degree China. I think there are far greater environmental issues in those countries than flying - not saying it does not contribute because it obviously does, but I don't think it is the main contributor. BTW, Bhutan is one of my favourite places to visit. So much to see and do.
@ MDA -- Another reader sent in this article with a list of (legit) charities helping with brushfire relief. It may be a good starting point? https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/amp.news.com.au/technology/environment/bushfire-relief-how-you-can-help-those-in-need/news-story/a0476ac3538b8c373f281ea6be204421
Much appreciated, especially from an Aussie who is seeing his country, flora and fauna burn.
Your actions are louder than your words!
great you feel better after this - flying is your job, just do not pretend please....
I'm sure this comment will get "censored" but this initiative is garbage. Look into the carbon emissions that you Americans cause by eating so much. How about everyone eats a little less?
Nice work! Giving both time and money is a surefire way to inspire and influence others to follow suit.
Well done Ben. I've been doing offsetting for a while but didn't find anything that was good enough. I'll give this one a shot.
Good on you for contributing to some communities that are less fortunate than you (and me).
@khatl
I'm not sure where I said that air travel doesn't generate large amounts of greenhouse gases - relative to staying home.
The problem w/ ALL of the logic about air travel is that the answer so many propose is to either limit the number of flights that are permitted or to tax the use of air travel.
There simply is no more environmentally friendly way to fly thousands of miles from home....
@khatl
I'm not sure where I said that air travel doesn't generate large amounts of greenhouse gases - relative to staying home.
The problem w/ ALL of the logic about air travel is that the answer so many propose is to either limit the number of flights that are permitted or to tax the use of air travel.
There simply is no more environmentally friendly way to fly thousands of miles from home. Economy class is more environmentally friendly than premium classes - but the argument still comes down to shaming something that is illegal and has enormous economic benefits for humankind -travel, appropriately done.
Comparing the carbon impact of people from developed countries that are mobile to those who live in underdeveloped settings and never leave home isn't logical. Of course someone that doesn't leave their home country has a lower TRANSPORTATION environmental impact than someone that travels around the earth.
Limiting air travel because you think that you have figured out the maximum threshold of any human activity that will impact the planet is arrogant beyond belief and far removed from science because no person can even remotely say that they level of flying they have chosen is as much as their should be.
The second flaw - which your article completely supports is to tax the environmental impact. First, governments alone get rich - which is completely ineffective at solving the problem and two, taxing something that has a negative impact to all simply means that the people who can fly and in premium classes will pay the tax and what is harmed are people who cannot afford to pay the tax and miss important family events.
Telling humankind to stop spreading out across the earth is not the answer.
And, more significantly, the people who want to make a statement always find a way to get around the rules. Please let little Greta know that if she really cared about climate change, she would have simply stayed home rather than cross the Atlantic in an electric yacht - of which a tiny, tiny fraction of the population could do if they wanted - simply because there aren't enough electric yachts available. And does Greta have any understanding of the environmental impact of producing rechargeable batteries?
Active carbon offset programs like what Lucky is supporting make sense. People just need to be able to accurately measure their environmental impact and make a proportional personal effort to add vegetation.
Checking a box even on an environmentally focused website and donating money is simply an economic means of justifying one's behavior which is at its root no different than a tax on air travel. Those who are really concerned about the impact of their actions choose to be personally involved and also make holistic changes to their entire lifestyles to lessen the impact on the environment across ALL spectrums rather than picking and choosing air travel as the target.
I doubt seriously that you will see activists start proposing that 60 degrees F/15 C is the max that people should be allowed to set their thermostats in winter but I can assure you that the environmental impact of 10 degrees F/5 degrees C is far larger than air travel.
@Khatl I am assuming you must live in a small European country where flying is not really necessary? What about those that live in countries like Australia, USA, Canada & Russia etc where flying is necessary and sometimes the only option available, what do you propose as an alternative?
Thanks for setting this up and sharing it on this platform! Would also be fun to organise some in-person events if others share the same interest on this topic. A minor note, it might have cost the less tech-savvy part of me more time than necessary navigating on classy.org - I thought I needed a new page which after 10 min only created another team. It seems we simply need to 'Donate' rather than 'Join the team'. Did I miss anything here?
Just donated!
Some cities and towns are going overboard on trees. In some places in Washington state, they regulate trees so that houses get damaged and driveways get uprooted, all in the name of tree regulations. They don't care if someone dies. Some houses don't have access to fire trucks because the lane to the house is too narrow because of trees but nothing can be done.
TPG is just a division of a media company now. They'll do whatever their media consultant tells them
Awesome job! Love your candid approach.
Wonder if ThePointsGuy will do anything similar give his team probably has a way bigger footprint than Lucky and Tiffany?
Life on earth has historically flourished during the warmer periods, not the colder ones. People assume a warming climate is automatically bad but warmer weather will open new areas to habitation and farming. Humans will adapt as they always have, if not thrive. It's pretty silly to think that all life will end if the temperature rises 5 degrees.
It's kind of sad to me that people have allowed themselves to feel guilty about the...
Life on earth has historically flourished during the warmer periods, not the colder ones. People assume a warming climate is automatically bad but warmer weather will open new areas to habitation and farming. Humans will adapt as they always have, if not thrive. It's pretty silly to think that all life will end if the temperature rises 5 degrees.
It's kind of sad to me that people have allowed themselves to feel guilty about the joy of exploring the world. It's the 21st century version of the guilt the catholic church used to put on anyone who enjoyed anything pleasurable. Everything is going to be fine. Relax and enjoy life.
So do you and Ford not have a car? In Miami?
Or are you driving an electric car?
This is great idea and I made small donation. One suggestion I have is can you make donation area specific to where you want the trees to be planted ? I saw on onetreeplanted web site that you can designate which project the money should be used for.
Great Work Lucky!
Great that you're doing this. But I must admit a little disappointed you're not making an ongoing commitment; simply one based on last year's travel.
@Tim Dunn - i'm all for opinions, but let's have them based on science. I don't disagree that the proportion of people flying hundreds of thousands of miles a year is small, but the amount of carbon emissions generated by a person taking a single plane journey vs that same...
Great that you're doing this. But I must admit a little disappointed you're not making an ongoing commitment; simply one based on last year's travel.
@Tim Dunn - i'm all for opinions, but let's have them based on science. I don't disagree that the proportion of people flying hundreds of thousands of miles a year is small, but the amount of carbon emissions generated by a person taking a single plane journey vs that same person making the journey by any other mode of transport is. I'm not saying the below is completely accurate, but it's directionally correct... and somewhat sobering
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2019/jul/19/carbon-calculator-how-taking-one-flight-emits-as-much-as-many-people-do-in-a-year
Or you could, you know, fly less?
Maybe we scale the number of trees to the product: 4 trees for Emirates First Class, 2 trees for QSuites, 1 tree for domestic F, and a shrub for the back of the plane on Spirit ;)
Well done! I'm a bit concerned about "one tree" though..
One can assume that a tree absorbs 20kg of CO2 a year. LAX-HKG return in premium cabin is about 2000 kg of CO2. You need hundred trees to cover that.
So funny that I suggested you planted a certain number of trees for every flight you take as a response to those complaining about you going to Greenland. I posted an hour before you posted this thread. Great minds think alike. Great initiative.
I made some donation. I am submitting to my company for matching too so double matching with OMAT.
"Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree"
Martin Luther
Super idea 1 tree per hour, I'll have to set up our current environmental charitable giving!
This is the second best time to plant a tree! If you wondered, the best time was 30 years ago. ;-)
I'll give some here for the match :-)
I'll use my new Chase United Mileage+ CC from the UA App Hack :-)
Love that we share the same priorities. My job requires a good amount of flying and we have teamed up with plant-for-the-planet.org to pay at least a part back by planting trees. We sponsored over 5000 trees by now. Key is to make that a long term commitment and keep planting... Way better than just offset the carbon by buying carbon certificates. The trees will give is oxygen for decades if not centuries....
@Tim. You are correct about the IRS but many organizations post the 990s on their own websites after filing. Those are the organizations that I typically feel more comfortable with.
Good move. Respect
@Ross I'm a tax preparer. The IRS has an enormous backlog. Posting 990s is low on the list.
@ Ben -- Thanks for giving back!
I really appreciate you owning up to the reality of travel's impact on climate and also taking the time to actually put thought into the offsetting. I think you've achieved a healthy balance and awareness!
Lucky, this is awesome! I commend you for your reasoned and sensible approach to this, and I would think and hope that we can ALL agree more trees is something the world definitely needs.
This is simply wonderful!
And the reason they have not filed their 2018 Form 990, which was due no later than November 15, is . . . ?
@ Ross -- They may well have (and in conversations their office staff is great, and I feel comfortable that they are meeting requirements), though we drafted this in November before the 2019 filing date. In my experience working with non-profits historically it is common to have a significant lag between when IRS forms are initially filed and when they are publicly available for an easy download, so I personally wouldn't be concerned, FWIW.
That...
@ Ross -- They may well have (and in conversations their office staff is great, and I feel comfortable that they are meeting requirements), though we drafted this in November before the 2019 filing date. In my experience working with non-profits historically it is common to have a significant lag between when IRS forms are initially filed and when they are publicly available for an easy download, so I personally wouldn't be concerned, FWIW.
That said, you can also find more information on GuideStar (https://www.guidestar.org/profile/46-4664562) or similar sites that monitor and evaluate non-profits.
That's absolutely stunning. Thanks for your concern and your efforts. All the steps you are taking ( e.g. recycle, energy efficient house and basically being aware of our effect on the environment in general) is extremely important- and greatly appreciated by me ( and most other readers).
As you, I found these carbon offsetting schemes quite sketchy.
Being able to actually know what is done with your money is so much more relatable....
That's absolutely stunning. Thanks for your concern and your efforts. All the steps you are taking ( e.g. recycle, energy efficient house and basically being aware of our effect on the environment in general) is extremely important- and greatly appreciated by me ( and most other readers).
As you, I found these carbon offsetting schemes quite sketchy.
Being able to actually know what is done with your money is so much more relatable. A truly great idea! Kudos to you and Ford for being so active in so many different fields.
Congrats on making a personal effort to offset the impact of your air travel.
I agree with you that far too many carbon offset programs have no connection to the contributor and there is no way of knowing whether there is any real impact.
I would encourage you and others to not just donate money - even if it is to a worthy cause - but to actually take a day and plant trees and...
Congrats on making a personal effort to offset the impact of your air travel.
I agree with you that far too many carbon offset programs have no connection to the contributor and there is no way of knowing whether there is any real impact.
I would encourage you and others to not just donate money - even if it is to a worthy cause - but to actually take a day and plant trees and maintain public green spaces.
There is far too much climate hysteria going on. I have yet to meet someone that can tell me the world's "set" temperature for any locale. Who is any of us to think that we know what temperature the world is supposed to be or what the temperature was when it started moving because of human initiatives?
Do humans impact climate? yes. Are there a whole host of natural phenomena that impact climate? Yes. As stewards of the earth, can we take responsibility for leaving the earth a better place whether we caused any damage or not? Absolutely?
Are air travel and personal travel choices just a small portion of the environmental all of us make? Most definitely. Smaller cars, lower thermostats (in the winter), less detergent usage etc are all just as important if not more so.
Shaming others for their legal choices needs to end.
I would encourage you and others to calculate how much your environmental efforts make compared to the impact you make. With all due respect, 400k miles, much of it in premium cabins, puts you in a pretty small slice of humanity in terms of air travel impact.
I am pleased that you are transparent about what you are doing and also have made many ground-based choices that are pro-environment.
Contributed! A step in the right direction! encourage travel, consciousness and action!
While I'm still pretty conflicted over lots of environmental mitigation methods (carbon offsetting, as you mentioned, and this) – I think it's hugely important that you're taking and sharing a strong perspective.
Even if there are questions about the true long term efficacy of some efforts, the mere fact that people are taking action seems like a good sign. Well done! You have my (small) donation.
This is really cool! What a great idea, and in this domain actions definitely do speak louder than words. Thanks also for shedding a light on this organization, I had not heard of them before. I'll happily contribute.
I think I said this the other day on another blog, but what sets your blog apart (other than the reviews) is the personal touch. This is why I stopped reading TPG years ago (plus bad information..m). Keep up the good work.
Agree wholeheartedly with what you said. We all have an impact and thoughtful, targeted initiatives like these will help on many fronts - environmental, of course, but also from an economic and societal perspective.
Thanks for taking this initiative and continuing the conversation - it's the right thing to do. I'll be contributing to the cause , and will keep offsetting my purchased flights. Not that that's a panacea for the environmental impact of travel,...
Agree wholeheartedly with what you said. We all have an impact and thoughtful, targeted initiatives like these will help on many fronts - environmental, of course, but also from an economic and societal perspective.
Thanks for taking this initiative and continuing the conversation - it's the right thing to do. I'll be contributing to the cause , and will keep offsetting my purchased flights. Not that that's a panacea for the environmental impact of travel, but as you put it, a step in the right direction.
Great cause! What kind of EV do you drive??
I'm glad you're doing this. I hope it becomes an ongoing, recurring thing for OMAAT.
Fantastic. Really appreciate your willingness to bring up these issues on a travel blog!
Also, if anyone is looking to donate to a bushfire relief effort can I recommend googling fb and donating to the Rapid Relief Team. They are a great organisation that is not only helping people who have lost everything but also perform the very essential function of going into fire zones and providing coffee and bacon sandwiches to Fireys.
Good on you.
Personally I buy 10 tonnes a month of gold standard offsets for myself and another 10 for my wife every month. Hopefully that goes someway to mitigate not just the travel but also living in one of the most carbon intensive economies (with one of the most knuckle dragging denying governments out there, FYou ScoMo).
I’ll kick in a few trees as well. I’d also recommend joining a local tree...
Good on you.
Personally I buy 10 tonnes a month of gold standard offsets for myself and another 10 for my wife every month. Hopefully that goes someway to mitigate not just the travel but also living in one of the most carbon intensive economies (with one of the most knuckle dragging denying governments out there, FYou ScoMo).
I’ll kick in a few trees as well. I’d also recommend joining a local tree planting organisation and playing a few in person. Nothing more satisfying that seeing trees grow up. There’s a wood I help organise the planting of 20 years ago back home in the UK, and I love going back to see how my trees are doing.
Ben, I appreciate your candor and thoughtful approach to issues where there is no simple solution. It's enjoyable to see you think through something, weigh the pros and cons, and make a reasoned decision, instead of blinding staking out a position as so many people online do these days. I look forward to seeing where this goes!
It's hard to do anything here but say "Bravo!" and to kick in a contribution.
So Bravo, Ben.
And I'll be contributing in like 15 seconds from when I hit post!