I am up much earlier than usual today. I’m not entirely sure why. I often get up to use the bathroom, and then go right back to sleep for a few hours, but this morning I lay there listening to the birds.
It has been hot here. Last night we slept with all of the bedroom windows open and the attic fan on, pulling in as much of a breeze as humanly possible. It was warm, but nice. And so this morning the windows were all still open and the birds – so many different kinds – were all singing. It was quite loud, and almost what I imagine a jungle might sound like.
I snuck out of bed and came downstairs, opened the back door to let in some air, and sat down to write. The birdsong has all but stopped. It’s funny how they do that, letting loose at the top of their lungs at 5 and 6 in the morning, but once it’s a more reasonable 7am they quiet down.
I came down here to write about trees. In particular, the good things trees do for the planet. The trees, I am sure, are the popular bird hangout in my yard at the crack of dawn, but more importantly, trees absorb CO2 emissions – a fully-grown tree absorbs eleven pounds of it per year.
That’s nothing to sneeze at. We all have a carbon footprint. This blog, just by existing, has one. According to the folks at Retale, who have initiated a Green Gestures campaign for bloggers:
According to a study by Harvard physics Ph.D Alexander Wissner-Gross, each visit to a web page results in an average of 20 milligrams (0.0008 ounces) of CO2 emissions. For a blog with average traffic (around 15,000 page views per month), the blog emits 8 lbs of CO2 each year.
Do you see where I am going with this? One adult tree makes up for the carbon footprint of one average blog, and then some.
Through the Green Gestures campaign, Retale is partnering with the Arbor Day Foundation to plant trees for blogs. In fact, they are planting a tree for Polka Dot Cottage, simply because I shared this information with you.
If you would like to have a tree planted to offset the carbon footprint of your blog, visit Green Gestures, and learn how easy it is! (Spoiler alert: all you have to do is write a blog post and then send them a link to it. Easy peasy.)
The world outside my back door is starting to wake up.Someone just turned on a leaf blower or some such contraption. (I wonder what the carbon footprint of that thing is…) Sounds like it’s time I go dig up some breakfast and get this Wednesday officially started.
Have a lovely day! (And plant a tree for your blog!)
Hi Lisa, I’ve been reading your blog for forever, but I decided that instead of just lurking, I should actually start commenting, too 🙂
As soon as I started keeping the windows open at night, I started waking up early thanks to the neighborhood song birds. Sunshine & birdsong are my favorite kind of wake up call.
A tree to offset a blog is an interesting idea. We have a couple of dead saplings in the back yard that we’re thinking of replacing, so maybe this is the perfect solution. Thanks for sharing. I’m looking forward to pictures of your new tree.
I agree! I love waking up to the birds and the sun streaming in the windows. I do wish they weren’t *quite* so early, but it’s ok – I can generally fall back asleep over them until I’m ready to get up 🙂
I’m glad you started commenting 🙂
Thank you Lisa, for sharing this info. I’ll give Green Gestures a visit soon and see whether my blog can participate. It really is a noble effort.
I have to admit it took me about 6 months to finally sit down and write this post, but I don’t know why I dragged my heels for so long – such an easy thing to do!
Nice Lisa! Thanks to our neighborhood robins, I’m a summertime early riser – as in 4:15 AM – so I know where you’re coming from. This sounds like an excellent idea. I’m definitely checking it out! Take care, Pam
Oh, wow, 4:15! I am more like an 8:30 riser in the summer. The birds wake me up around 5 or 6, I use the bathroom, and go back to bed 🙂
I do love early mornings. I suppose if I could bring myself to go to bed earlier, I could enjoy them more. There’s just no getting up before 5 when you’ve only just gone to bed around Midnight.