Project History
In the fall of 2004, students at the Vermont Commons School (VCS), a private, college-preparatory school for grades 7-12, began a project called the Commons Co-op. This project set out to reduce the school's ecological impact. Carbon emissions are the leading cause of global climate change, and by increasing awareness among our own community we hope to reduce contributions to this problem. Within the school, this project reduced energy dependency by 18.3% in consumption alone and then went beyond these reductions, offsetting 100% of carbon emissions through carbon sequestration.
We began by making small changes such as installing energy efficient light bulbs, turning lights of when we left the room and unplugging appliances that were not in use. In combination with our initial reduction of electricity consumption, we planted 1500 trees to neutralize the remaining emissions produced by our school. In the fall of 2005 the group began to imagine greater prospects of energy conservation by expanding into the larger community. The new focus of this organization is to certify local businesses as Carbon Zero. This Carbon Zero designation is awarded to businesses that have neutralized their carbon output by reducing overall energy consumption, introducing renewable energy sources, and funding ecologically diverse carbon sequestration projects. Use of the logo provides companies with a valuable marketing tool. To label companies as Carbon Zero, members of our project analyze the companies' electricity bills and provide them with strategies to neutralize their emissions. We began analyzing energy audits and writing business proposals for likeminded companies that would be willing to follow in our footsteps.
This past fall, the Commons Co-op was renamed the Carbon Zero Project. We agreed to expand our original initiative; to increase awareness, reduce energy consumption, invest in renewable electricity sources and completely eliminate carbon emissions through carbon sequestration, to outside the walls of VCS. This project presents businesses with a chance to cancel out their carbon emissions through ecological restoration, while providing them with a progressive marketing strategy. Our process involves a three-pronged approach to neutralize carbon emissions, beginning with reducing energy consumption, creating a plan that utilizes renewable sources and, lastly, planting trees to sequester remaining carbon emissions.
The Carbon Zero Project combines environmental education with a proactive effort to benefit the community. This class is now conducted using a business model; the teacher acts as the 'boss' and students as 'employees.' Whatever is accomplished is done by the students. With all the responsibility that students are given, we are actually running the company, and we are provided with invaluable pre-professional work experience in writing business proposals, analyzing energy audits and meeting with the owners of companies and presenting them with ways in which they can combat electricity costs and reduce carbon emissions. Our future expansion will not be possible without a full time faculty member to direct the students. Through our project, we aspire to not only help the environment, but also improve a company's sales and educate the community about global warming and carbon emissions.