Earth Day...Whatcha doin?

It's Earth Day and many people (myself included) pay more lip service than actual impactful service to reducing carbon emissions and preserving the planet.

But there is an organization that has found an incredible, reasonable and effective way to bring both attention and resources to carbon offsetting. About a month ago, I participated in a web conference held only for bloggers (these are becoming quite popular and I get asked to participate quite often -- it's a phone conference with bloggers, the questions and interchange are honest and frankly, great, and we get a link of the audio recording to share with our readers.)

The organization is Brighter Planet. Jonathan Isham Jr and Andy Rossmeissl , cofounders of Brighter Planet, created this new company to empower individuals to take on climate change. (Isham is also Luce Professor of International Environmental Economics at Middlebury College .)

How?

By creating a frequent user Brighter Planet/Bank of America credit card program where the benefits go directly to offset carbon emissions and YOUR carbon footprint. Fantastic? I thought so. Here is the full interview. If you don't have the time for the full interview, please, please, on this Earth day, head over to Brighter Planet, educate yourself on what they are doing, and on the types of things you can do to better the planet (and, yes, changing your light bulbs to fluorescent really DOES make a difference.)

Here's a brief on the company, sent to me by Cindy Samuels, a phenomenal PR power in her own right:

"A socially responsible company, Brighter Planet offers innovative products and services to help create a sustainable future for the planet and its people. They provide individuals with practical tools, like their recently launched Credit Card that fights global warming by investing in premium renewable energy projects instead of encouraging further consumerism with rewards like airline miles.

Brighter Planet’s innovative carbon impact tools were recently featured on ReadWriteWeb ( http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/brighter_planet.php). They encourage individuals to make a profile on their website, calculate their carbon footprint, and watch their footprint shrink with certain choices in products and lifestyle."

Why should you be interested? Because you, like me, seek ways to both reduce out “carbon footprint”, but also join in the fight to halt global warming.

Happy Earth Year.