Living Routes' programs expose students to the world of ecovillages and sustainable living. Unfortunately, they also expose the world to the environmental impacts of international travel. Carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to the Greenhouse Effect, which is warming the Earth's climate and is possibly the greatest environmental threat of the 21st century. The evidence is clear that we are entering a period of rapid climate destabilization ('"global warming'" just sounds too nice) that will almost certainly lead to more frequent and intense hurricanes, crop failures, droughts, and massive economic and social disruptions.

So, what's to be done? Well, to put it simply, we need to radically transform how we act and think in the world. And '"we'" means governments, institutions (including study abroad organizations) and, perhaps most importantly, individuals. Nationally committing to international regulatory efforts (e.g. the Kyoto Protocol) will certainly help by establishing policies that favor solar, wind, and micro-hydro power; fossil fuel taxes; and community-based planning for lower-carbon lifestyles. But government action is only a start. The 5 '- 10% carbon reductions the Kyoto Protocol requires by 2012 '- even if they are met '- are nowhere near the 60 '- 80% reductions science suggests is needed within 20 to 30 years to prevent the worst-case climate scenarios.

Furthermore, governmental and institutional change will be weak and shortlived without a critical mass of understanding and commitment within the global citizenry. We each need to learn how we can reduce our personal carbon footprint while creating and maintaining high quality lifestyles. The question before each and every one of us is, '"How can we live well and lightly?'" Since 2005, Living Routes has committed to a three-step Carbon Strategy where we (1) measure our emissions, (2) reduce these emissions where possible, and (3) support carbon-reducing initiatives.

MEASURE - Decisions we make every day, from what we eat and how we get around to what we do with a water bottle after we're done with it, all affect our carbon footprint. The first step is to understand how our actions impact the environment. For Living Routes programs, students estimate CO2 emissions resulting from their travel to, from, and during the program. On semester programs, students also measure their '"home'" or '"school'" footprint, which they compare with their '"in country'" footprint. Living Routes also measures emissions resulting from office activities including staff travel (including commuting), electricity and paper use, etc.

REDUCE - Once we have measured our emissions, the next step is to reduce them wherever possible. This is the most important step and it really challenges us to '"be the change we wish to see in the world,'" as Gandhi said. These changes can be large or small. Use less hot water. Become a vegetarian or vegan. Walk or bike instead of driving somewhere. It all adds up. At Living Routes, we strive to walk our talk; and challenge our students to work through a Carbon Commitment Calculator we developed to see how many changes they are willing to make (that they weren't already, or planning on, doing) as a way of acknowledging and responding to each program's environmental impacts.

SUPPORT - While our emphasis should always be on reducing emissions, we'll never get them to zero. So, what should we do about these remaining emissions? Carbon offsetting organizations propose a third step '- that individuals and corporations '"offset'" their greenhouse gas emissions by funding projects that result in emissions reductions or carbon sequestration (e.g. planting trees). The idea is to become '"carbon neutral'" by fully '"offsetting'" your emissions. These organizations are successful to the extent they:

1. support renewable energy projects with much needed funding,
   which helps them compete with fossil fuel subsidies;
2. transfer wealth from 1st world to '"2/3rd world'" countries,
   as that is where many of these projects are taking place;
3. help organizations voluntarily prepare for regulations, which
   governments are increasingly mandating; and
4. catalyze awareness and action around these critical environmental issues.

While acknowledging these positive aspects, Living Routes also believes these organizations:

1. send a misleading message that we can simply buy a
   clean conscience while delaying meaningful action;
2. have difficulty proving offsetting projects are '"additional'"
   (i.e. they would not have occurred without this funding);
3. require a large and complex infrastructure that bleeds money
   and resources from the actual projects; and
4. often don't account for unintended negative impacts from their
   offsetting projects (a.k.a. '"leakage'").

Living Routes believes carbon '"offsetting'" is a controversial and ultimately counterproductive response to the complex issues of peak oil and climate change and that we need to move beyond the idea that we can '"neutralize'" our environmental impacts through financial transactions. Ultimately, a shift towards a sustainable future will require each of us to deeply reconsider core values and practices of how we live in relationship to each other and the world. We believe this will, in turn, inevitably lead people in search of community models that are developing and maintaining high quality, yet low impact lifestyles '- i.e. ecovillages!

Supporting carbon '"offsetting'" initiatives is still crucial, however. Living Routes has therefore developed a fund, which we continually add to based on each program's remaining emissions (at $15/mT CO2e). We use this fund to support ecovillage-based projects that address issues of peak oil and climate change. Examples include solar energy (PV systems, solar cookers, solar thermal systems, solar refrigeration, etc.), afforestation/reforestation, biogas, wind power, and Earth-building. While we do estimate the CO2 emissions reductions from these projects, we do not claim this support makes us carbon neutral '- as we believe there is always more we can and should be doing. Rather, we consider ourselves a carbon conscious organization in that we are trying to build awareness, change lifestyles, and support human-scale sustainabilty projects '- to help each of us to do our part in creating a healthy planet. Thank you for your interest in this topic and our collective journey towards a sustainable future!