Transcript for the Piece Audio version of An Unusual Father's Day Gift

My dad is the sort of guy who is hard to shop for. He says he doesn?t want anything for his Birthday, for the Winter holidays, and certainly not for Father?s Day. But I?ve discovered that he really likes home-made things, and little things that don?t cost much but are really useful. For this Father?s Day I think I?ve found the perfect ultra-useful gift for my eco-conscious dad. But it warrants a bit of explanation.

He drives a hybrid electric Toyota Prius, and he and my mom split their time between the Midwest and the East Coast, so they drive a lot. Even though the Prius gets great gas mileage, it still burns gasoline and releases CO2 into the atmosphere. That?s the greenhouse gas we absolutely MUST get a handle on. So here?s my dad, driving a lot, and still polluting even though he has a hybrid. There must be something we can do about this. And this is where my gift comes in.

I bought my dad carbon credits. I bought enough for him to drive to the East Coast and back 6 times?covering about 8000 miles. Over that distance he would normally be responsible for about 2 tons of CO2 being released into the atmosphere. Yikes. But by offsetting that specific amount of carbon dioxide with credits?his 6 trips become carbon neutral. And it cost me all of $24.

So how is this done? Simply put carbon offsetting is an investment in a form of renewable energy that does not contribute CO2 to the atmosphere, thereby preventing the need for additional fossil fuel use. These investments can also be toward an activity that literally pulls CO2 from the atmosphere, like planting trees. It?s really your choice, depending on the service you use. And you can offset any kind of travel: car, bus, plane?anything that uses fossil fuels.

I used nativeenergy.com, and the carbon credits I bought will go toward what they call remooable energy?yah remooable. My $24 will go toward developing a methane gas production facility at the Schrack Family Dairy Farm in PA. The methane gas will come directly from decomposing cow dropping?which they have a lot of. The methane will be used to heat and cool the dairy farm, but will also generate electricity that will be fed back into the grid.

So, instead of running on gasoline, you could think of my dad?s car, at least for those 6 trips, as running on remooable cow dung power. Happy Fathers Day, dad.