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CoolEffect Sponsored Series
Not All Carbon Credits are Created Equal
Cool Effect Rolls Out Its Holiday Gift Packs
With Thanksgiving, Christmas and Hanukkah just around the corner, crowdfunding platform Cool Effect is rolling out a new set of holiday gift packs for the eco-conscious consumer. The six innovative concepts aren't just designed to make gift-buyers feel good about their choices, though. They send that all-important message to recipients that Mother Earth should be on all of their gift lists as well. Oh, and it doesn’t hurt that all gifts purchased with Cool Effect are tax-deductible!
Communicating the need for eco-friendly concepts to family and friends can be a difficult at times, so Cool Effect has come up with a way to help. The projects not only help reduce carbon emissions, but give developing communities the step up that's often needed to become sustainable. And, they educate consumers about how they can really help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Happy holidays, happy health
Cool Effect's cookstove initiatives are popular because they get right to the heart of one of the worst causes of greenhouse gas production and incidental death in remote, impoverished communities: unsafe cooking stoves that rely on high amounts of wood or coal fuel. The newer, low-fuel stoves that Cool Effect promotes not only help slow carbon emissions, but indirectly help slow deforestation of local forests and protect endangered species at the same time. And studies have shown that better cookstoves translate to lower childhood mortality and illness from toxic fumes, so communities benefit as a whole"Our cookstove projects have been grouped into one handy gift packet for the planet," writes Cool Effect, which explains that these cookstoves are tailor-made to meet the needs of a specific community.
The holiday gift pack covers all four of Cool Effect's cookstove projects, and individuals can choose to gift the standard $25 or $100 packages, or any amount they choose.
Level 1: One Heart $25
Level 2: Two Hearts $100
Clean air pack: The Cuckoo Combo
Got a bird enthusiast in mind for this holiday season? Cool Effect has designed a package that will appeal to both nature lovers and environmentalists in general.
"This gift pack is an ode to the Yellow Billed Cuckoo, a threatened bird known for filling the air with cuckoo sounds, just like the clock, before thunderstorms and late summer showers," explains Cool Effect.
Of course supporting efforts to reduce methane and nitrous oxide emissions doesn't just help the birds. It improves the ecology that dozens of other threatened and endangered species rely on as well. This duo of greenhouse gas-fighting projects helps communities do the right thing by redirecting and processing the gases from fertilizer and natural emissions so their emissions don't harm the environment.
Level 1: One Cuckoo $25
Level 2: An Asylum of Cuckoos* $100
(*Yes, that's the actual term for a group of cuckoos!)
Coffee: Cool Effect's brew-tiful gift
Who doesn't love coffee? And who wouldn't want to keep Peru's spectacular Alto Mayo Protection Forest pristine? This combo not only helps reduce deforestation by providing mechanisms for Peruvian to grow coffee and protect the forest, but also helps ensure that individuals in rural Honduras have safe, affordable and healthy ways to cook. The common thread in these two projects is their ability to help remote communities become sustainable and support the needs of the local environment."By supporting these projects, your gift will help reduce Earth-warming emissions by reducing the number of trees cut for firewood in important coffee growing areas of the world," says Cool Effect, which points out that there's always a connection between local environmental conditions and our own ability to buy the products we love (like coffee) off the shelf. "Whether it is a coffee farmer’s cookstove or a coffee growing forest, all contribute to your morning brew."
Level 1: Give One Coffee Bean: $25
Level 2: Give Bunch of Coffee Beans: $100
Clean energy gift pack
OK, we admit it: The idea of poo as a gift may seem a bit strange to your friends -- that is, until they realize the benefits of their new gift. This little package helps a community in India build biogas digesters that will provide energy for cooking and running their homes. And just as importantly, it keeps the methane from decaying animal waste and other bi-products from entering the atmosphere."Just one biogas digester can capture enough methane (CH4) to power several homes at a time, saving families money and reducing the amount of greenhouse gases released into the environment."
Level 1: One Poo $25
Level 2: A Ton: $100
Wind energy gift pack
Wind turbines have been around for centuries, but one of today's greatest accomplishments is finding ways to transport that technology to very remote, underserved communities that can use it. This little gem of a package provides support for 10,000 low-income families in Costa Rica's mountainous region, where the costs of building turbines are high but the technology is greatly needed. The clean energy also helps supporting businesses like tourism and farming remain sustainable."Just one wind turbine can power multiple homes, businesses and schools all while providing good jobs in manufacturing, installation and maintenance to hard-working Costa Ricans," says Cool Effect.
Level 1: Wind $25
Level 2: Power $100
Save the Snowman gift pack
Can't make up your mind which would be the perfect gift? Cool Effect rolls all of its popular projects into its Snowman Gift Pack so you can showcase all of the ingenious ways that climate change is now being fought."Cool Effect has projects across the globe that verifiably reduce carbon pollution to fight climate change, and this gift package allows you to support every single one of them. But it doesn’t stop there. Whether it’s preventing carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), or nitrous oxide (N2O), these projects fight earth-warming emissions of all kinds to help our frosty friends and keep winter a wonderland."
Level 1: Snowball $25
Level 2: Snowstorm $100