At Gitchi, we're always looking to raise the bar for our sustainability standards. Sometimes that means being mindful of big things -- like examining the environmental and social impacts of every product we put out into the world -- and at other times, it's simply making small but significant tweaks in the way already we do business.
One small step we're proud to take is investing in carbon-neutral shipping. You've probably heard the term "carbon neutral," but what exactly does it mean? Let's break it down.
As a retail business, we must find a way to transport the goods we sell to each customer. (If we didn't, we'd probably be out of business real soon, eh?) Whether that happens by train, truck, or airplane, each shipment requires a vehicle to reach its destination. Unfortunately, nearly all vehicles still depend on fossil fuels and thus release harmful greenhouse gases (carbon, as well as methane and nitrous oxide) into the atmosphere during their travel.
One way to counteract these emissions is by investing in carbon offsets. TerraPass is a leader in this arena, and we've chosen to partner with them because of their impressive record, integrity, and transparency.
When money is contributed to TerraPass through carbon offset purchases, they funnel those dollars to projects that actively reduce or destroy greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Here are some examples of projects* they contribute to:
- Wind energy. Dollars invested in renewable energy from wind turbines displaces dirty energy that relies on fossil fuels such as gas and coal.
- Farm power and methane digesters. Through the use of anaerobic digesters, methane is captured as the manure breaks down, and is then destroyed when it is burned as a fuel to produce electricity.
- Gas capture from landfills. These projects turn garbage into power: as organic waste breaks down in a landfill, it releases methane, which is captured and then can be burned in a generator to create electricity.
- Forest management. As we all know, healthy forests are a great answer to offsetting carbon because of their ability to sequester and transform it into oxygen. Even better than planting new trees, which take years to grow and reach maximum impact, is maintaining and improving the mature forests that already exist.
Of course, what matters at the end of that day is that those dollars actually made real change happen. So to ensure that they do, TerraPass seeks out third-party verification for every one of their projects, and they are held to the Verified Carbon Standard. Essentially, we can trust that they're doing good work, so you can trust that we are, too. We're proud to be able to say that all shipments from Gitchi, both previously and going forward, are verifiably carbon-neutral.
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