20
Apr
Quantify Your Carbon Savings from P2P Reuse on Tradepal
Contributor: Tamar Burton
This Earth Day we unite in support of a healthy planet by inspiring change. As part of the 2012 theme Mobilize the Earth, and the upcoming United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSDA) in Rio de Janeiro, Rio +20 we encourage everyone to proactively engage in ways that will create a quantifiable outcome by organizing events, volunteering and promoting renewable energy initiatives, and finally pledging support to a Billion Acts of Green. Now with over 997 million acts pledged and counting, our actions today will help to develop a comprehensive plan for sustainable development while inspiring the change necessary to get our world leaders to take bold energy action.
In honor of Earth Day, we at Tradepal, suggest that you evaluate your carbon footprint and the many ways you can help the environment by reducing, recycling and reusing. To the many supporters of collaborative consumption, we encourage you to quantify the carbon savings your actions generate in changing users’ behaviors with services such as bike, car and ride sharing, swapping and trading.
Senator Gaylord Nelson, the originator of the Earth Day holiday in 1970:
“The economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment, not the other way around.”
Tradepal users save money and the environment when trading on our platform. They also have access to a dedicated calculator that quantifies their carbon savings derived from all their trading on the platform. It is surprising to discover the exact amount of carbon savings you have accumulated while trading and giving items away.
On Tradepal, users may quantify their carbon savings both individually and as a group:
- individual users who have excess electronics, video games or consumer goods
- networks such as churches, charities and schools
- organizations including local businesses and corporations
- cities whose communities need an alternative to yard sales
Gamification Feature: The Carbon Savings Calculator
It might seem trivial initially, but watching your carbon savings increase with each trade is truly fulfilling. According to my Tradepal user profile, I have accumulated 354 kg of carbon savings over the past six months. While not sure what it exactly meant, I simply plugged my Tradepal Carbon Savings amount into the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator.
The following highlights some significant equivalents of my savings:
- Carbon sequestered by 9 tree seedlings grown for 10 years
- CO2 emissions from 14 propane cylinders used for home BBQs
- CO2 emissions from 39 gallons of gasoline consumed
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