We are having an impact on our planet, all
6 billion and counting.
If the planet were only 45 years old then we
would have appeared in only the last 15 minutes. In the last 15
seconds we have managed to change the earth. In just 250 years
we have developed industrial agriculture, cut down forests for
building and fue, drilled for oil, and mined for coal. All of
these have changed the way we live. All of these release carbon
into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide. Once in the
atmosphere the carbon dioxide increases the effect of the
natural greenhouse effect, warming the planet.
Increasing the greenhouse effect means
changing the way the climate works. On a warmer planet there ir
more energy to move around. Some of this moves as water
evaporated from the oceans. Other energy moves as the winds that
create storms. Still other energy impacts the planet´s surface, drying it out. The result is more extreme weather events: in some places too wet, in others too windy, in still others too hot and dry. The natural ecosystems and poorer communities suffering today are precursors.
Carbon Neutral Planet advocates that the rural communities in places of high biodiversity form part of the solution to global climate change in many places around the world. That is why we work with reforestation projects in small communities in the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve in central, eastern Mexico.
Why choose an offset on the voluntary
market rather than a regulated offset?
Regulated offsets have restrictive conditions
on how they operate that make it difficult to work with small
producers. Instead of working with one large reforestation
project we work with hundreds of small land owners.
Your donation helps us retire land from the cycle of soil
degradation and low productivity into reforestation projects. It
helps us support poor communities so they don´t have to cut down
there forests to plant crops for food on easily eroded hillsides.
Since we work in one of the world´s highest biodiversity regions,
you get the added benefit of protecting Jaguar, Ocelot,
Hummingbirds, frogs, amphibians, and plants.
You can be part of a global movement to figh
climate change, protect biodiversity, and aid communities in
need at the same time, a triple return on your investment.
Use our carbon emission calculators to measure
the carbon dioxide emissions you produce. Donate to offset your impact.
Tell your friends.
"Introduction
to the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve
Official
site the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve
Do you know that the biosphere is the
zone of the earth´s surface where there is life? The life
that we know, is possible thanks to air. On other planets, the
existence of other types of gases and different temperatures
precludes life as we know it.
Do you know there are greenhouse gases,
and what they are? They are gases in our atmosphere that do
not heat escape, gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and others.
They maintain the temperature of the earth properly. If the gases
increase, the average temperature on Earth increases. In the past
200 years, the emission of carbon dioxide increased, as did the
Earth´s temperature.
Do you know what a tree is?
Trees are living beings that are born, feed, breathe, grow,
reproduce, and die. They are important to animal life and to humans
because they produce oxygen that we need to live. Trees and plants
breathe carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen. In other words, they
absorb the gas called carbon dioxide and expel oxygen. The trees are
large because they grow all their lives through photosynthesis,
using sunlight and carbon dioxide.
Do you know why trees are useful, in
addition to purifying the air? In addition to purifying the
air by releasing oxygen through the process of photosynthesis, trees
are home to many, many living things: birds, squirrels, beetles,
butterflies, wasps, mosses, lichens. In trees, these things find the
food they need. If we cut forest and instead plant a single new type
of crop, many of these things will not find what they need and will
disappear. And, in this way also, biodiversity will be affected.
Do you know what the functions of forests
are? A forest a densely-wooded place. Forests provide a
very important maintenance service for the planet, absorbing carbon
dioxide and preventing the planet from overheating. The forest
prevents loss of fertile land. It permits land to maintain a fragile
ecosystem, but one of optional use. The fallen leaves deteriorate
there.
Without forests, our planet would be a desert
like the moon or Mars.
Do you know that the Earth is warming?
Global warming is ocurring. Through the greenhouse effect-a
protective shield of the gases in the atmosphere-life on earth has
been able to develop. These gases, like carbon dioxide, allow entry
of the sun´s heat and, in part, prevent loss of the heat from the
earth´s surface into space, especially at night. They act like the
panes of an artificial greenhouse that retains the heat. With the
increase in the world propulation and in industry, combustion gases
hace increased, and increases in the temperature of our planet have
been observed.
Why have gases such as carbon dioxide
increased? Due to industry and our modern lifestyle, too
much of these gases are being released, and that is not good. We
release carbon dioxide into the air when we burn oil, natural gas,
and the carbon that we use in our cars, factories, power plants, and
homes. Also, when we cut down forests it releases carbon dioxide.
Do you know what the effects of global
warming are? Changes in the Earth´s average temperature
produce droughts in some areas, rain and severe storms in others
areas, and the melting of permafrost in mountain summits and in
glaciers. Many organisms will not tolerate such variations in
temperature, and they will die. Crops would decrease, forests would
become dry, and coastal areas would be flooded.
As the climate becomes warmer, disease-carrying
species invade new areas. Global warming, therefore, increases our
vulnerability to diseases.
Overall, there have been drastic changes in the
amount of rainfall during the last century. The effects of large
changes can be devastating for the people of each region.
The Earth is our only home, and we should take
care of it.
Sources:
Contamination of the air. Inge Thiel, et al. Lumen 1995
An incovenient truth for future generations. Gore, Al. 2008
Beginning sequence of nature: The tree. Andreu Llamas y Francisco
Arredondo. 1996. Ediciones Lema
Diversity of trees: The forests. Pedro Moreno. 2004. Exploradores
Planeta
Discover the environments. David Suzuki. 2003. ONTRO
These perverse plants. Arnold Nick. 1999. LIMPERGRAF
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