Marisa de Belloy, CEO of Cool Effect, thinks of climate issues like a math problem. An offset purchased from their site, she says “is equal to one [metric] ton of carbon emissions that were not emitted. The term offset just means you’re using that ton to offset a ton you have put into the atmosphere.” Their emissions-reducing programs vary from planting trees to providing communities with clean-burning cookstoves. To more than offset that cross-country flight, a consumer could pay $8.50 to a program in Honduras that replaces open fire cooking pits with custom-built brick and mortar stoves that require less wood to cook meals and funnel smoke outdoors via a chimney. Cool Effect estimates one new stove could reduce three metric tons of carbon emissions per year.
