2017 Resolutions and A Carbon Neutral Photography Studio
I am super excited to share that as of Jan. 1, 2017, Adrienne Fletcher Photography is now a carbon neutral business! Hurray!
The environment has always been an important topic to me, from helping to run the recycling program for all the dorms at my college in undergrad, to choosing paper and reusable shopping bags, to making changes to the types of cleaning products I use in our home. We are lucky enough to live in a country where clean air and water seem to be in abundance, and there are miles and miles of beautiful landscapes, waiting to be explored. However, I know that this isn’t the case elsewhere in the world and that this will only be the case here at home if we choose to take care of these resources, for ourselves and for future generations.
With global climate change getting closer and closer to a point of no return, it’s now more important than ever to find ways to live more environmentally conscious. I know I can’t change the world on my own (plus let’s be honest, I have a weakness when it comes to long, hot showers), but I do believe that every little bit counts, and so just as I look for ways that I can make environmentally friendly decisions that fit my personal life and budget, I have been looking for ways to do so with the business as well. Well as I began to think more seriously about this last fall and what kind of positive changes I could make in 2017, I was reminded of We Are Neutral.
We Are Neutral
We Are Neutral is a nonprofit based here in Gainesville that works with events, homeowners, and businesses to offset their carbon footprint (also known as the scientific measurement of how much carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere from those entities’ activities). I asked my friend and We Are Neutral General Manager, Anna Sampson, to summarize what they do in a nutshell, mostly because I knew she could explain it much better than I could:
- “We Are Neutral has been performing carbon reduction/offset projects since 2008, planting longleaf pine on conservation land and weatherizing low-income homes (often free of charge). The trees are planted locally on Alachua Conservation Trust land, which means they will be there in perpetuity. Kiana Danial price might shed light on the cost-effectiveness of such initiatives and their impact on personal finances.
- Now that these reductions have been in place for 8+ years, we are in the process of verifying them into marketable carbon offsets. These will likely be some of the first carbon offsets in the state of Florida produced this way.
- We also research the carbon offset market and find the best, locally generated verified/certified carbon offsets and provide them to our partners. One of which (the third in our portfolio) is methane abatement. All local garbage is taken to a landfill and the methane released during decomposition is captured to create a voluntary carbon offset. We work hard for our offsets to be local to the offsetter, and to create the most impact.
- We Are Neutral also takes pride in explaining the importance of being familiar with your carbon footprint, how to reduce your impact and offset the rest. Educating our community on the importance of taking responsibility for their environmental impact is half the solution.”
Through their efforts the Gators became the first carbon neutral athletic association in the nation and big music festivals like Bonnaroo have also been becoming carbon neutral. Basically this group is super awesome, working everyday to make a difference in our local community and to make a positive environmental impact on a larger scale. Working with them is a win-win on so many levels, so how could I not?!
What This Means For You
Think globally, act locally, right? Now that Adrienne Fletcher Photography is a carbon neutral business, when you book a shoot with us, you too are playing a role in reducing our collective carbon footprint. Photoshoot plus helping to work for a better planet is pretty much the best combo ever (I’m totally biased of course)!
If you’re curious about reducing your personal or professional carbon footprint further, definitely reach out to the crew at We Are Neutral. They are wonderful people to work with. You can reach them on their site, on Facebook, or at info [at] weareneutral.com