Pop! Tech to Create Carbon Offset Listings on eBay Giving Works Initiative enables anyone to offset personal carbon emissions by supporting innovative conservation and development projects
Camden, ME, October 18, 2007 – Pop!Tech, the leading social innovation network and thought-leadership forum will be creating socially responsible listings on eBay Giving Works. The Pop!Tech Carbon Initiative enables individuals to offset their personal carbon emissions through the purchase of carbon credits from one of three carefully selected social development and conservation projects around the world. Visitors to the eBay Giving Works listings, located at www.ebay.com/poptech, can determine their annual personal carbon footprint using an easy-to-use calculator, then purchase carbon offsets in projects ranging from a solar-powered water irrigation initiative in Benin, Africa, to an environmental restoration program in Nicaragua, and a biomass remediation program in Brazil. In conjunction with reducing energy consumption and using energy more efficiently, investing in these projects will help mitigate the effect of everyone’s carbon emissions. The Pop!Tech Carbon Initiative will be publicly unveiled at the Pop!Tech 2007 conference, convening Oct 18-20, 2007 in Camden, ME. As part of the program, Pop!Tech will make an investment in these projects equal to twice the total carbon emissions associated with all 2007 conference attendees’ at the event. This continues a two-year commitment to “carbon negativity” – the concept of going beyond carbon neutrality to actively curtail climate change. Pop!Tech is also encouraging people to make additional personal offsets via eBay Giving Works. Representatives of each benefiting project in Pop!Tech’s listings are participating in this year’s Pop!Tech conference as “Pop!Tech Carbon Fellows.” Fellows include: - Robert Freling, the Executive Director of The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF), an organization dedicated to helping rural communities in the developing world power a brighter future through innovative uses of solar energy. SELF is bringing solar powered irrigation to Benin’s Kalale District in West Africa where over 80% of the villages do not have a source of surface water. The villages are provided with a source of clean renewable energy, eliminating the need for diesel & gas powered pumps.
- Dr. Sarah Otterstrom, the Executive Director of Paso Pacífico, a non-profit organization seeking to build wildlife corridors along the Pacific slope of Central America by supporting private landowners and small-scale farmers in sustainable land use and conservation activities. She is currently working on the restoration and conservation of endangered forest ecosystems in the Rivas Province of Nicaragua. This project also reduces the vulnerability of local communities to extreme climate events while improving ecosystem services and the viability of endangered species.
- Stefano Merlin, the Director of Ecologica Network and President of Instituto Ecologica, which coordinates several socio-environmental programs including the Bandeira Switching Non-Renewable Biomass Project in the North of Brazil. This project addresses the problem of deforestation and reduces the quantity of biomass decaying which, in turn, cuts down on green house gas emissions.
“The projects in the Pop!Tech Carbon Initiative were carefully chosen because they produce both social and environmental benefits,” said Andrew Zolli, Pop!Tech’s Curator. “They are part of our mission to accelerate the impact of world-changing people and ideas, and we are thrilled to support them.” Pop!Tech will keep the eBay Giving Works listings available to the public through the end of the year. ### About Pop!Tech Pop!Tech is a renowned social innovation network and thought leadership forum dedicated to accelerating the impact of world-changing people and ideas. The organization is known for its visionary Pop!Tech conferences, engaging media productions, and the innovative social change programs that it fosters worldwide. Visit poptech.org for more.
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