Green DC: Cool Capital Challenge

This post is part of a weekly feature where we will focus on events and issues, related to the environment, happening in our own back yard of Washington, DC. Come back next Wednesday for another post.

Hope you enjoyed your Earth Day in DC. Its unfortunate that the big Earth Day concert on the National Mall was rained out over the weekend. I guess Mother Nature doesn't appreciate The Roots. There are still a few more events this week in honor of Earth Day. You can check them out HERE and HERE.

Now onto today's "Green DC" installment on the Green Piece Blog.

If you are trying to reduce your carbon footprint, its easy to feel that the changes you are making are just a very small drop in a very large bucket.

Of course anything you do really does make a difference, but if you want to join a local movement where your efforts will have a more recognizable effect, try joining the Cool Capital Challenge.

Cool Capital Challenge is an effort that brings together individuals, corporations, organizations and congregations from around the DC area in order to reduce carbon emissions in our community.

The goal of the Challenge was to get District residents and companies to commit to reducing their carbon emissions by one billion tons. That number represents one-third of the emissions that must be cut by 2012 to meet the Kyoto Treaty commitment made by Mayors Williams and Fenty.

The Challenge successfully met its goal, but new commitments are always welcomed.

When you visit the site (Click HERE) you will have the opportunity to make your own carbon reduction commitment by choosing from a series of actions you promise to take in order to reduce your carbon footprint. The site will estimate the amount of your carbon reduction based on the actions you promise to make and will contribute that number to the total amount of reductions promised by other DC citizens and companies.

In the words of the Cool Capital Challenge, "The Challenge is like a fundraising campaign, only instead of pledging money, we are pledging the region's greenhouse gas emission reduction."

I have signed up for the challenge and committed to reduce my footprint, I hope you take a second to do the same.