The last month of summer is always a time to devotedly enjoy the last days of freedom and sun. While many of us in the office went on vacation, our work to stop global warming never stopped! Check out these the top blog posts from the month of August. 1. @Carbonfundorg reaches 1000 followers! Tweet Tweet! Carbonfund.org’s twitter mosaic is all the rage. In August, we passed a big milestone and reached 1000 followers, and we posted this awesome mosaic of all our friends. We’re shooting to reach 2,500 in September, so please follow us and YOU can be a part of this work of art!

2. Molecule Eats Carbon Dioxide From the world of the weird and wonderful, Maryland scientists recently discovered a molecule that “eats” carbon dioxide. Will this be the solution that helps us avert catastrophic climate change? 3. Tips for College Students to Keep it Green and Keep Some Cash School is back! While parents relish their new-found freedom, their kids are off to school and helping us keep it green—and for a good reason. They’re the ones that will feel the effects of this global warming mess our parents made. 4. YouRenew.com Makes Splash with Giant iPhone 3GS If you’re like me and you have iphone envy, you might have found a dandy man this month. Carbonfund.org partner, Rich Littlehale, Co-founder of YouRenew.com dressed up in a giant Iphone in Manhattan this month to try to get people to recycle their old phones. Hot! 5. Energy Efficiency & Our Economy Want an extra $1.2 trillion in your pocket? How about 23% reductions in global warming emissions by 2020? A new report shows us how to get there through efficiency alone—now doesn’t that just sound smart? 6. ‘Cash For Clunkers’ Car Rebate System Begins It’s not just here at Carbonfund.org where “Clunker” became the logophile’s latest lust. Nearly 700,000 cars were traded in through this program, saving consumers’ money, stimulating the economy and reducing pollution for old and inefficient vehicles. Don’t forget to check out our recap of the program here: http://www.carbonfund.org/blog/global-warming/carbon-reduced-economy-stimulated-cars/ 7. Protect Your Skin this August with EcoStinger Hot summer sun can’t fight Carbonfree Partner Ecostinger. They make sun protective clothing for all your outdoor clothing needs! And you’ll get a discount for being a Carbonfund.org supporter... 8. Rising Food Prices from Global Warming a Serious Threat to Urban Poor The moral imperative to solve global warming is no more clear than when you’re looking at impacts to the urban poor. Heat waves, droughts and extreme weather will affect agricultural production and will raise food prices, putting an extreme burden on those who are already struggling to survive at under $1 a day.

Benton Consulting Group has been offsetting its emissions with Carbonfund.org for the past two years.  As a 1% For the Planet member, their donations for carbon offsets are the equivalent to the CO2 emissions from over 21,000 gallons of gasoline consumed or the carbon sequestered by nearly 5,500 tree seedlings grown for ten years!  Today we congratulate Benton Consulting group for their commitment to offsetting their carbon footprint and being a two year CarbonFree Partner with Carbonfund.org. In addition to their offsetting, Benton Consulting Group focuses on productivity consulting.  Their productivity system and methodology produces measurable increases in individual and organizational performance and satisfaction by altering how people think about, approach, and manage their work.  They have helped organizations such as Boeing and Microsoft increase conversions, reduce meeting times, and recover numerous hours per day. So what does this mean for the environment?  Let's take one example: their systems helped reduce time spent on email and the number of messages in their inbox.  According to a report by McAfee and ICF, the average carbon footprint of one email is .3 grams of CO2.  A year's worth of email at a typical medium-sized business can use a whopping 50,000 kWh.  Benton Consulting Group is not only saving businesses time, money, and sanity, but they're helping reduce our energy need.  Learn more at Benton Consulting Group.

Metropolitan Food Service is a family owned and operated food service management company based in Long Island, NY.  They provide Colleges and Universities in the local area with customized dining, vending, and catering services that meet their needs.  Their goal is to inspire and fuel the minds of their customers with fresh, nutritious, creative meals with a focus on convenience, affordability, and sustainability.  As a CarbonFree Partner, MFS offsets its corporate footprint in addition to implementing a wide range of environmental initiatives including:

• Local, vegan, and organic snack items for the On the Go Healthy Vending Program
• Local produce and meat
• Biodegradable and sustainable packaging
• Recycling of their waste cooking oil
• Reduced bottled water use
• Sustainable cleaning products and methodologies.

Additionally, any food that is not purchased is donated. If you're a college student, professor, or administrator in the New York area, who's supplying your dining hall food?  Consider making the switch to Metropolitan Food Service for locally produced food from an environmentally conscious company.

The Colorado Renewable Energy Society (CRES) awarded its 2009 Larson-Notari Award for distinguished service and contributions to the field of renewable energy and its 2008 Volunteer of the Year Award. CRES, based in Golden, Colo., is a nonprofit organization working to increase awareness of the economic and environmental benefits of renewables and energy efficiency. Winner of the Larson-Notari Award is Carol Tombari, Manager of Stakeholder Relations at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. At NREL, she works on electric utility and economic development issues. Prior to this, she was president of Mountain Energy Consultation, specializing in pubilc policy and programs on renewables, efficiency and the environmental impact of energy use. She has also led three delegations of state energy officials to China to discuss policies to facilitate the development of renewable energy and energy efficiency. CRES' 2008 Volunteer of the Year is Jerry Stevenson, Co-Chair of CRES' 2008 Colorado Renewable Energy Conference. Stevenson was recognized for his energy and dedication to the event; he volunteered while working as an engineer for the US Forest Service. The next Colorado Renewable Energy Conference is slated for June 18-20, 2010 in Montrose, Colo.

The Fulton Elementary School Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) is the first CarbonFree® Green PTA in America. “We are very proud to join CarbonFree® Partner companies and organizations like Discovery Communications, Avis, Amtrak, 41pounds.org and others to help the environment, support energy independence, and help make the transition to a clean energy future possible,” states Fulton PTA President Brian Meshkin. “It is our hope that we will teach our kids and lead by example to encourage progress from the grassroots.” As a CarbonFree® Green PTA, Fulton offset its carbon footprint with a donation to Carbonfund.org, which calculated the carbon emissions from the building usage and attendee transportation to meetings and activities for the 2009-10 school year. Fulton’s donation supports Carbonfund.org’s third-party validated carbon offset projects in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and reforestation which are reducing global warming emissions today. The PTA will also hold a fundraiser where members and friends can make their homes and cars CarbonFree® with 20 percent of the tax-deductible donations supporting the PTA’s environmental initiatives. Additionally, the Fulton Elementary PTA is reducing its paper and ink consumption by 50 percent, supporting its Environmental Committee’s Chesapeake Bay Day assembly and the school’s soil conservation garden at Fulton Elementary as multi-disciplinary learning experiences, and embarking on other environmental initiatives. The Green PTA Program involves: • Becoming a CarbonFree® PTA Partner by reducing, offsetting the carbon footprint of a PTA’s activities • Reducing paper and fossil fuel-based ink consumption through increased use of electronic mediums • Establishing an environmental or wellness PTA committee that promotes more environmentally conscious choices by families such as carpooling • Completing a Green School certification application in the PTA’s state (if available) • Incorporating environmental protection initiatives in PTA projects “With the great families, teachers and administrators at Fulton Elementary, we are pleased to lead the way and plant a seed here that will hopefully grow and flourish as other PTA’s join us,” said Meshkin.

Education is central to Carbonfund.org's mission. As a part of that, we push for strong standards in the carbon offset industry so consumers know what to look for when they offset their carbon footprint. There's a lot of misinformation on offsets in social media. If you think you'd like to help set the record straight about offsets, email Susanna at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Sign up and we will:

• Host an online training session on social media tools
• Invite you to an email listserv where we can share articles, techniques, contacts, etc.
• Provide you with ongoing support and material to help you find your voice online

This is a unique volunteer opportunity in that you don't have to show up at a place or time to help out. You can do this from home or on the go. Send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to help.

"In many states across the country, the weather and landscapes could be nearly unrecognizable in 100 years," he added. By 2100, states such as Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota could see average temperature increases of more than 10 degrees. Some impacts Midwesterners could see by 2100 include significant declines in the dairy industry because dairy cow productivity decreases above 77°F.  Also, the US' $200 billion agriculture industry would face drier soil and shifting crop production patterns.

Los Angeles just launched a new program that is aimed at reducing water use. Their innovative approach gives a $1 rebate for every square foot of turf to people who replace their lawns with drought tolerant groundcovers or native plants that require a maximum of 15” of water per square foot per year. The program has already been implemented in Las Vegas where officials estimate they will save 7 billion gallons of water per year. I love this plan. There’s nothing more boring than a lawn, and if you’re unfortunate enough to have to care for one, you know how annoying it is to mow it. They also dirty up our water system with all the herbicides, insecticides, and fertilizers people use to keep them pretty. And, according to the US EPA, gas mowers represent 5% of US air pollution and use 800 million gallons of gas per year. And, if you’ve ever been to the LA area, you know that’s not a place where lawns are supposed to grow. It’s hot and dry; all you should really see is chaparral and other drought-tolerant plants. From Sustainablegardeningblog.com:

With very few exceptions, California’s residential and commercial lawns are all “exotics”, coming from outside of North America. These turfs include Tall Fescue (Europe), Blue Grass (Europe), Bermuda Grass (Africa), Zoysia (Philippines), Seashore Paspalum (tropical Americas), and St. Augustine (West Indies, West Africa). All of these grasses come from areas with much higher rainfall than California. Of these, tall fescue is our most common landscape turfgrass state-wide, and this grass type is also one of the most water-requiring, using upwards of 40” to 50” of water per square foot per year.

But should we all just get rid of our lawns? Maybe not. Lawns still provide an essential filtration service, cleaning rain water before it empties into reservoirs and groundwater sources. They also mitigate that hot summer heat generated by city streets and buildings. And there are still those suburbs that need their white picket fences and impeccably cut lawns. Certainly, some regions can easily grow grass without using enormous amounts of water and chemicals. Sustainablegardeningblog.com recommends using water-friendly turf, such as a native Carex or buffalograss. Researchers at UC Davis and Riverside have developed a type of buffalograss called ‘UC Verde’ that has been shown to get by on just 12” of water per year, resulting in 75% water savings over regular lawns. Check out the section on Lawn Reduction and Lawn Substitutes and The Great American Delawning Movement from Sustainable-gardening.com to read about how to create a lawn-free yard. Or if you have to keep your lawn, use a sustainable lawn maintenance company like Clean Air Lawn Care.