How I Handle my CARBON FOOTPRINT | The Biggest sin of 21st century | Sonam Wangchuk Ladakh

Join Sonam Wangchuk in Ladakh, to pay our voluntary carbon tax to nature…
https://sankalptaru.org/carbon-neutral-ladakh/
Sankalp Taru joins Hands with Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh…

Dear friends,
Our lives have become overly complicated. The cars we drive the imported goods we buy and most
notably the flights we take… all add to the dark footprints we leave on the planet. Because of this in
Ladakh our glaciers are melting away, causing alternating droughts and floods and in coastal areas, millions of habitats are being drowned.
While stopping these activities is the best solution, but more practical would be to reduce the activities and plant trees to absorb the carbon we still release. I have understood that the best way is to plant trees… I have been offsetting my carbon footprint for the last 3 years by helping village communities in the Kargil region of Ladakh plant thousands of trees.
While this helps build vegetational assets for the communities it also stabilizes the soil and absorbs heavy rainfalls in high valleys and secures them against frequent flash floods and releases the water slowly to help solve the drought problem also. A big bonus in this unique programme is that it also helps the village enhance its human resource through better education of their children.
Here’s How It Works!
Normally it is believed that one tree can absorb roughly 250 Kgs of CO2… which is also the amount of CO2 equivalent emission caused by a passenger on a short one-hour flight. In other words one tree per short flight to offset this carbon emission. On average planting and nurturing one tree in Ladakh costs roughly 175 rupees so this would be the minimum carbon tax we should set aside for a short flight if we want to neutralize our footprint.
Every time I take a domestic flight I set aside twice the price of the ticket as the carbon offset fund. This however means 25 to 100 trees per flight, assuming that many other passengers in the plane might not do their bit to offset their footprint.
How it does more than carbon offset.
Most villages in Ladakh organize Winter Camps for the children in their village during the winter vacations, to help the children continue learning in the vacations and to help them learn various skills and life skills that schools often do not teach. Most parents have a problem paying for the
expenses of such camps. But I realized that they have problems paying in conventional currencies, however, they could pay in the green ‘currency’ of trees, in fact, even children could contribute to this and learn at the same time.
So in this way, the villagers plant trees on common lands and I contribute an amount per tree. This could range from 100 to 200 rupees depending on the type of tree and terrain etc. If a village plants 1000 trees they would get 100,000 to 200,000 rupees, partly at the time of plantation and partly after
ensuring the survival of the trees, after one year. With this money, the village organizes facilities like heating, furniture, teaching aids, and of course teachers and mentors for winter camps.
Another bonus!
This plantation campaign also helps realize the vision of Carbon Neutral Ladakh, a call given by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India.
How Can You Join the Cause!
we can all start taking responsibility for our actions and set aside a carbon tax on nature. While for me it was quite a challenge to find the place and people to plant trees on my behalf and use the amount to invest in the next generation, for you we have tried to simplify it all. You can just click some
buttons here at this site and we and our partners Sankalp Taru will do the rest. I thank my friends at Sankalp Taru for being there and doing this kind of facilitation for several years now.

Looking forward to a greener and happier future for all

Sonam Wangchuk
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