A friend of mine recently sent me a link to this site:

http://www.terrapass.com/index.html

Its a company that tries to mobilize funds towards reducing emissions/pollution from the burning of fossil fuels.

Here's what you do: You put in your car make and model, how many miles you drive a year, and then it calculates how much pollution you create - then, it gives you a dollar amount which you contribute to the terrapass fund, which they use to fund clear energy initiatives, to reduce greenhouse gasses through many different projects, to buy up emmision credits (used by power companies - I've bought these before through an environmental non-profit), etc.

My initial reactions:
Good: What a great idea. Mobilize en masse our funds to create positive change.
Doubt: They use pretty strong words, such "TerraPass lets you directly counteract 100% of your car's carbon dioxide emissions today." That's a huge statement.
Bad?: This could simply be a brilliant way to sucker bleeding heart liberals (such as myself) into forking over cash to relieve our guilt for driving to work every day.

What do you guys think? What's YOUR verdict?

Don't give your money away 'til you know where it's going.

Don't give your money away 'til you know where it's going.
http://www.terrapass.com/investments.html

Assuming they aren't lying, here is where it goes.

You can directly buy shares of pollution credits from them which gives people a way to buy pollution credits if they don't have enough money to buy an entire one.

I would obviously check this place out more, but if they are legit, I think it is a good thing. It isn't their model that I like, but simply that they are supporting the reduction of emissions. I guess if people will pay more out of guilt, I'm not opposed to using it

I read a story on cnn's website (which I gues lends some legitimacy to the organization) the founder said they expected to get a lot of people with "SUV" guilt but it has mainly been people who drive environmentally friend cars that they have gotten business from so now they focus their efforts on that group.

I wish we had pollution credits for car pollution like we did for companies.

http://www.terrapass.com/investments.html

Assuming they aren't lying, here is where it goes.


Thanks ug333, but I had already read all the material on their website ;-) - I tried some online research to see what others are saying about this company, but had no luck (checking with you guys is usually better than snopes!)

I guess I will just request more materials, but I don't know if I can request a financial statement because they aren't non-profit (another one of my issues with the company.)

Send me the money! I'll plant some trees on your behalf! :angel:

Send me the money! I'll plant some trees on your behalf! :angel:

That's ok, I do more than my part for the environment. I'm just always on the lookout for more good ways to help our mother earth ;-) Apparently no one here seems terribly impressed by this one.