We’re happy to announce that Brighter Planet members have offset

fifty million pounds of CO2.

That fills the volume of 12 Empire State Buildings. It’s like powering all the electricity in the US for 5 minutes. Or one day of all flights to and from New York City airports. Or almost three days of all travel on Highway 101 in LA County. Or 8.6 million bags of trash not rotting in landfills.

Brighter Planet offsets fund well-vetted American renewable energy projects. Congratulations and thank you for taking fifty million smarter steps for a healthy environment.

–The team

Greetings to all. I am pleased to introduce myself as the newest member of the Brighter Planet team. A Colorado native and a Middlebury graduate, I am glad to return now to Vermont from California, in time to enjoy another increasingly precious winter.

My primary professional perspective on climate change has been through the lens of biology. Climate change has loomed in the background of every ecology study I have worked on, from my thesis research studying climatic pressures on alpine treelines in the Green Mountains, to my experience leading carnivore ecology research crews in Yellowstone, to my endangered species recovery work in California’s Channel Islands. It has been sobering and enlightening to build an understanding of the ways in which climate change threatens to undermine our efforts to mitigate the other main threats facing the natural world—those of exotic species invasions and the biodiversity crash.

But as essential as research ecology is to understanding and addressing climate change, solutions must ultimately come also from the social realm. I have come to believe that that the most innovative and promising organizations are those working at the intersections of disparate fields—and Brighter Planet epitomizes this idea. So it is with enthusiasm that I join this wonderful team in developing creative market-based approaches to mending the rift between economy and ecology.

—Matt

Carolyn Barnwell joined Brighter Planet as Communications and Outreach Coordinator in October.

Warm greetings to everyone. I am pleased to introduce myself as the latest addition to the Brighter Planet team. I grew up in New Hampshire, and joining Brighter Planet marks a safe and happy return to my native New England after traveling around the world alone.

I spent a year on a research fellowship exploring different perspectives of climate change impacts in remote coastal communities. (I’m proud to share that my large, travel-induced carbon footprint was entirely offset by NativeEnergy.) I have visited developing countries and stayed with local families since I was eleven years old, and this has influenced my belief that we should not separate social dimensions from environmental challenges. This idea is known as “environmental justice.” Moral dimensions come into play because the vulnerable people who are most affected by climate change are least responsible for contributing to the problem.

The good news is that the desire to address climate change through renewable energy alternatives can be found everywhere. In reality, there are fewer hurdles to overcome here in the U.S. than in developing countries to make the shift. I now have a renewed desire to contribute to climate change solutions in my home country, with our culture of innovation and effective technology. Brighter Planet’s model of harnessing consumer power to help shift our energy economy is a great example of how shifting consciousness and then taking responsible action leads to positive environmental results. I am thrilled to join this company of motivated, creative, good people.

Though I think nostalgically about warm, tropical sunshine as I unpack wool socks and hats, it is wonderful to be in a beautiful, familiar place. (Wow, the foliage is stunning this year!) I look forward to interacting with all of you in the wider Brighter Planet community throughout the fall, and into the new year.

– Carolyn

Today, we have a guest post from Churchill Franklin, an invaluable member of our team and Board of Directors. Churchill graduated from Middlebury College a in 1971, married his college sweetheart, Janet, and has had three children graduate from Middlebury. As you can see, he’s very devoted to the school and furthering its mission of academic excellence, global responsibility and environmental stewardship.

You all know the song by Crosby, Stills & Nash, “Teach Your Children Well.”  My story has a lot to do with listening to my children and learning from them. My daughter, Lindsey, Middlebury College class of ‘07, majored in environmental studies. Her thinking was shaped by Jon Isham and Bill McKibben. As she showed up from successive semesters at Middlebury, she told an increasingly articulate story about the importance of protecting the environment so that her generation will have a planet on which to live.

Having spent the five years at an environmentally-oriented engineering manufacturing company, Thermo Electron, I knew that creativity was important in solving environmental challenges. I had also come to realize that the only way to galvanize the public’s will to reduce the use of fossil fuel was for the price of oil to increase dramatically. Since that has happened, all kinds of neat things are surfacing–even GM is developing (for the second time) an electric car.

So, Lindsey motivated me to stop driving my Chevy Suburban, buy a Toyota Prius and to begin to think creatively about ways to reduce our personal carbon footprint.  Through her inspiration, it was very hard to say no to Brighter Planet, this compelling, student-driven, entrepreneurial idea that came out of a Middlebury classroom (and that has now grown to a company present coast-to-coast through its alliances and the magic of the internet). So, now I find myself on the board of this exciting new company and trying to figure out how to get more Brighter Planet credit cards and debit cards into the hands of the global populace.

It’s the least I can do!

-Churchill

Rich Sturim joined Brighter Planet as Rails Developer in September, 2008.

Greetings to all. I’m very pleased to be the newest member of the Brighter Planet team. After living in Seattle for ten years, our family decided it was time to move back East to be closer to friends and relatives. My wife and I are both New England natives and we love being situated in the rural Vermont surroundings.

When the weather cooperates, I enjoy riding my bike to and from work. It’s 25 miles each way, which may seem like a lot, but the scenery and roads more than make up for it — as these roads are some of the best in the Northeast. In addition to cycling, I also enjoy coaching youth lacrosse, football, and basketball. When the snow arrives our family spends most weekends telemark skiing and snowboarding at Sugarbush. When the snow finally melts we’re often found addressing nine demanding hens or coping with an unruly garden.

For over ten years now I’ve been building web sites for a living. Over that period a lot has changed online — but something that has remained constant for me is the sense of satisfaction that comes from building exciting, engaging, and useful sites that serves a real purpose to a real audience. When someone in my profession finds that opportunity it’s pure gold — and arriving at Brighter Planet is a true windfall.

-Rich