Spread the light and offset your Christmas carbon

onDec 21, 2006 @ 11:21 PST

A lot of people have been asking DeSmog about “Carbon-friendly” giftgiving this year and in the dying days of the shopping season we would like to propose a simple, cheap and very effective Christmas carbon-offset program.

Go out and pick up a dozen compact flourescent lightbulbs (CFL) and include them with your gifts to friends and family with an accompanying note to please replace your most-used lightbulb in your house. The cost to you is about 20 bucks, but the savings in carbon emissions are huge.

According to Energy Star, CFL‘s use 2/3 less energy than a standard lightbulb and if 2.5 million households replaced just one light it would prevent greenhouse gas emissions equivalant to nearly 800,000 cars. Not to mention it makes a great conversation piece about the issue of global warming.

By Kevin Grandia

Kevin is a contributor and strategic adviser to DeSmog. He runs the digital marketing agency Spake Media House. Named a “Green Hero” by Rolling Stone Magazine and one of the “Top 50 Tweeters” on climate change and environment issues, Kevin has appeared in major news media outlets around the world for his work on digital campaigning. Kevin has been involved in the public policy arena in both the United States and Canada for more than a decade. For five years he was the managing editor of DeSmogBlog.com. In this role, Kevin’s research into the “climate denial industry” and the right-wing think tank networks was featured in news media articles around the world. He is most well known for his ground-breaking research into David and Charles Koch’s massive financial investments in the Republican and tea party networks. Kevin is the first person to be designated a “Certified Expert” on the political and community organizing platform NationBuilder. Prior to DeSmog, Kevin worked in various political and government roles. He was Senior Advisor to the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and a Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Asia Pacific, Foreign Affairs for the Government of Canada. Kevin also worked in various roles in the British Columbia provincial government in the Office of the Premier and the Ministry of Health. In 2008 Kevin co-founded a groundbreaking new online election tool called Vote for Environment which was later nominated for a World Summit Award in recognition of the world’s best e-Content and innovative ICT applications. Kevin moved to Washington, DC in 2010 where he worked for two years as the Director of Online Strategy for Greenpeace USA and has since returned to his hometown of Vancouver, Canada.

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