© It’s the Planet 2008

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Welcome to It’s the Planet

Climate change is challenging the assumptions which have made us the single largest influence on the biosphere.  Perhaps we are finally coming to understand that we are but one species among many.  Working with the planet, and helping each other, to create a sustainable future for all life, is the greatest challenge we have ever faced.  Welcome to It’s the Planet.  

We usually view climate change simply as a technical problem: we assume all will be well if we reduce greenhouse gas emissions produced by the burning of fossil fuels by getting rid of dirty old technology and developing new clean technology which is less polluting. However, if we have already exceeded the threshold for dangerous climate change we are - at best - trying to wreck the world more slowly.

Climate change is not just an atmospheric pollution problem caused by burning fossil fuels. It is also the result of our interference with the rest of the carbon cycle. For thousands of years, long before we discovered fossil fuels, people have been burning and oxidizing organic compounds that were formed by photosynthesis, reversing the natural processes of storing carbon in plants and soils.  Deforestation still happens on a vast scale.  Less obvious is the release of soil carbon through poor agricultural techniques which have depleted the fertility of the world's soils.  These historic and prehistoric losses of soil carbon to the atmosphere can only be guessed at, and they are ongoing.

To solve the problems of climate change caused by burning fossil carbon and to restore the vitality of the Earth's natural regulatory systems, we need to think not only about better technology but about living carbon again - plants and soils.  It is the only means we have for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and will help restore the ecosystem services provided by nature diminished by our pursuit of material growth without deeper consideration for well being of all life on the planet.

A stable climate is the right of everyone on the planet, forever.  This has been dangerously compromised by the belief that the natural world is something to be consumed, exploited, or controlled only for human ends.  Humans are an integral part of the system of nature and a sustainable future for us and the rest of nature depends to a great extent on the role we now choose to play in the web of life.

In order to pursue our uniquely human values and share the earth with all the other species, however, we must understand our responsibilities to each other, to future generations and to the natural world. That is why our offsetting approach uses carbon credits which we think address the wider ecological and ethical dimensions of climate change.

We are on a journey of discovery, perhaps the most important of our lives.  Climate change is telling us that we need to find a new relationship with the planet.  It's the Planet  would like to share that journey with you.

If you are ready to offset now, then go to our carbon calculator.

(cartoon with kind permission of Stephanie McMillan/Knight Features)