It’s finally here. The first overt economic deterrent aimed at US consumers for their emissions of greenhouse gases has arrived on our shores. Figuratively, at least. This past week, most major US airlines levied a $3 ticket surcharge on all flights to and from European Union (EU) nations after a European court determined that the “EU Aviation Directive” can and should apply to them. This means that US-based airlines will need to acquire and submit... Continue reading »
We seem to have an obsession here on combating “vampire power” (or at least writing about it in the past but it looks like we might run out of things to say soon*. *Well… as soon as this gets developed since it’s still only a product in concept. The PumPing Tap is a spring-loaded electrical socket that physically ejects a plug when it’s been left in the socket. MNN writer Matt Hickman summarized it quite... Continue reading »
The next project up for public comment is the Enoree Landfill municipal solid waste Landfill Gas to Energy Project. The Enoree Landfill is a small, municipally-owned solid waste disposal facility in Greer, South Carolina which closed in 2007 after 12 years of use. Due to its small size, the landfill’s closure plan did not require an active gas management system, in which methane from decomposing trash is pulled from the landfill and destroyed. Nonetheless, Greenville... Continue reading »
One of the less heralded benefits of the 2009 Recovery Act is a change in pre-tax commuter benefits. As with pre-tax health care and child care plans, commuter benefits allow you to set aside some of your paycheck before it’s taxed, and use that money to pay commute expenses - transit passes and parking. Employers also benefit from commuter benefits because they don’t pay employment taxes on your set-aside. The Recovery Act boosted the limit... Continue reading »
Allow me to digress briefly from the stated blog topic: any time I see NASA in the news, I always think of this graphic, which I find hysterical. (For more barrels of laughs, if you’re ever short on any, I recommend searching “NASA” on theonion.com) Anyway, NASA HAS discovered something super cool - what the media is branding as Earth 2.0. Kepler-22b (what a super unsexy name - these 12 year-old Brits can do way... Continue reading »
Call me (Mrs.) Scrooge, but the holiday season (that is to say, the commercialization of the holidays) gets me a little bit crankypants because of the way everything is referred to as a “tradition.” Especially when some of these traditions have real environmental impacts. First, you’ve got the tree. For those who are behind the times on the “live vs. fake” tree debate (i.e., what’s better? cutting a tree down ever year vs. tossing a... Continue reading »
Before I start, I want to make a quick comment on behalf of the TerraPass Footprint (because we’ve gotten a lot of comments over the past few weeks, and I think there’s a bit of a misunderstanding of what the purpose of this blog is). The following content is MY opinion, and my opinion alone. While this blog is managed by TerraPass staff (and yes, we consider ourselves to be fairly informed on the issues... Continue reading »
You can blame ample Facebook procrastination time for this latest discovery of mine (actually, I feel a bit late to the game - according to a quick Google search, this site has been around for at least 4 years now). As you may have heard, world population surpassed the 7 billion mark last month (though this contrasts with other projections, like that of the US Census). Poodwadddle’s World Clock is a nifty little counter that... Continue reading »
If we dare say so, it’s the most brilliant marketing slogan that we didn’t come up with. TerraPass Your Gas through offsets with TerraPass! We are proud to partner with MOM’s Organic Market, a homegrown organic grocer in the DC/Baltimore region. Beginning this week, MOM’s will ask their customers for their zip code info in order to estimate mileage driven to and from MOM’s stores. On behalf of their customers, MOM’s will purchase carbon offsets... Continue reading »
Truism: Cars are expensive. Expensive to buy, expensive to fuel, expensive to maintain. Since we all know this, (hence it being a truism), some data I recently came across caught me by surprise. And made we wonder whether I have been misjudging the actual cost of my driving choices. Here’s the scoop, and I begin with a confession. I own a car. Actually, more than one. And I drive regularly. Indeed, this post is A... Continue reading »
We’ve always thought that San Francisco is a pretty sweet spot to be - it’s biker-friendly, you’re ostracized for using paper cups (oh wait… maybe that’s just within the TerraPass office), and green compost bins are more prevalent than trees (I joke, we have a lot of trees). We weren’t being totally egotistical; others thought so too. And now, the city itself has provided evidence that sustainability efforts can make a real impact. On October... Continue reading »
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