New carbon calculator conserves forests( Arlington Virginia (Dec. 11 2007) A...)

Arlington, Virginia (Dec. 11, 2007) A quick and cool way to help combat climate change is now available at www.conservation.org/carboncalculator.

Lively videos and stunning images are featured in Conservation Internationals (CI) new online carbon calculator, which helps people easily calculate how much they are adding to global greenhouse gases. The CI carbon calculator offers a way to offset those emissions by helping protect tropical forests from being burned and cleared.

Tropical deforestation emits at least 20 percent of total greenhouse gases that cause climate change -- more than all the worlds cars, SUVs, trucks, trains and airplanes combined. Sporting a novel, upbeat design, CIs user friendly calculator determines personal or family carbon emissions from home energy, vehicle, travel and diet behaviors, or from an individual event or travel.

Most people dont realize that the meat and food items they eat, the soaps and shampoos they use, even some of the biodiesel and ethanol biofuels powering their cars come from cleared tropical forests, said Michael Totten, CIs Chief Adviser for Climate, Water and Ecosystem Services. This calculator shows them how big of an impact they are making, and how to offset the damage by protecting tropical forests that contain some of the worlds richest biological diversity and life-sustaining benefits critical to the wellbeing of local populations.

Most web-based carbon calculators focus on reducing a persons carbon footprint through energy solutions, mainly by the purchase of renewable green power such as capturing land-fill methane gas, or wind power or energy efficiency options. While CI advocates those options as well, CIs calculator is a quick and easy way to calculate carbon footprints, learn about ways to reduce emissions, and contribute to one of the least addressed and most important ways to combat climate change
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