How to Breathe Carbon Free for Life
The CO2 we exhale when we breathe is officially considered "a pollutant" by the United States Supreme Court (http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/06pdf/05-1120.pdf) and should therefore be regulated.
Regulating peoples' breathing is NOT a viable option, and we are therefore launching our campaign to Breathe Carbon Free for Life by ‘recycling’ the CO2 you exhale.
Q: How do you “recycle” my CO2 pollution?
A: By using Trees, they absorb the ‘C’arbon and release the ‘O’xygen in CO2
There’s all sorts of jargon for CO2 recycling like ‘carbon sequestration’, ‘carbon offset’ ‘carbon neutrality’ and so on. For us, it’s simply about ‘recycling’ pollution you can’t always see, CO2 or Carbon Dioxide, which can be recycled in different ways as we do much of our household waste.
We cannot obviously recycle the exact same CO2 you exhale when you breathe, so we recycle an equivalent amount from the air. Through the process of photosynthesis, the trees you plant capture ‘CO2’ from the air and separate the 'C' from the 'O', absorbing the ‘C’arbon and releasing the ‘O’xygen – this is what we mean by recycling.
Q: How much CO2 do I exhale every year?
A: 730 pounds which we top up to 880 pounds to account of exercise
We show you how much CO2 you produce in a day and therefore how much you need to recycle in a day . . . then in a year and then a lifetime. These estimates are worked out scientifically and mathematically shown below.
Estimates of the amount of CO2 you exhale every year vary by a small amount, and in round figures it works out at 2 pounds of CO2 per day for an adult, or 730 pounds a year. We top this up to 880 pounds a year in our calculations to account for people who a take exercise (breathing / exhaling faster for short periods) and allow for a margin of error. There are different ways of measuring your CO2 pollution as this link shows. https://www.globe.gov/explore-science/scientists-blog/archived-posts/sciblog/2008/08/11/release-of-carbon-dioxide-by-individual-humans/comment-page-1/index.html
Q: How much CO2 pollution do my trees recycle every year?
A: 48 pounds of CO2 per tree on average.
The amount of CO2 recycled by a mature tree depends on the type of tree. A domestic fruit tree might only absorb 20 pounds of CO2 or less a year, whereas some forest trees can absorb up to 100 pounds a year. You plant Mangrove trees with us which have extensive root systems and are thus able to store 2x – 10x more carbon than most other trees. We don’t take any account of this higher level of storage in our tree recycling calculations, and simply use the much quoted average of 48 pounds of CO2 recycled a year by a single tree. http://www.tenmilliontrees.org/trees/
20 trees will on average recycle 960 pounds of CO2 a year, more than enough to recycle the 880 pounds of CO2 we assume per person per year as an average.
Q: How does a tree recycle CO2 every year ‘over my lifetime’?
A: Mangrove trees live on average longer than human beings
The average length of a person’s life in the developed world is around 73 – 80 years (it varies by continent) and is less than 50 - 60 years in undeveloped parts of the world. The average lifetime of a Mangrove tree is over 100 years, so the trees you plant outlive people to recycle your CO2 contribution taken as an average. https://ourworldindata.org/life-expectancy
Q: Does recycling our CO2 from breathing reduce Carbon in the atmosphere?
A: Yes, 1 tree absorbs the Carbon from 48 pounds of CO2
Conventional wisdom argues breathing is the act of putting back CO2 which is already accounted for by the carbon in animals and plants we eat as part of what’s called the Carbon Cycle. Many take the view we’ve upset that global balance or cycle through pollution, cutting down trees and other acts of negligence and wanton destruction.
Factually, we are living with 416 parts of carbon per million in the atmosphere, the highest level of Carbon in the atmosphere in hundreds of thousands of years. See https://climate.nasa.gov
We think recycling an amount of CO2 equivalent to the amount you exhale every year is a great way of inviting and involving everyone on the planet ‘equally’ in helping to solve a problem which affects us all.
Q: Why use Bands of Courage to plant trees?
A: Because they make a great gift and you give back so much
When you give 2 Bands of Courage you give, and give back, so much.
You gift your bands in a fabric drawstring pouch with your Breathe Carbon Free For Life Certificate which can personalized and with a gift card representing an endangered animal. It’s a very personal gift set.
You create jobs for the artisans who make your bands by hand and the Madagascans who plant your trees by hand and look after them.
You provide a home to the animals who live in the trees and marine life who live in the Mangrove root systems.
You plant 10 trees with every band to combat global warming.
With 2 Bands of Courage you give the gift of Breathing Carbon Free for Life.
A Band of Courage touches a lot of lives, in little but great ways.
