What Does One Ton of CO2 Look Like?

At Natreve, we’re proud to be the first plastic and carbon neural wellness brand.

Carbon-neutral: How are we achieving this?

Sustainability and environmental impact are built into every decision we make. We’re committed to a continuous effort and daily practices of sustainability.

We’re investing in renewable energy through our partnership with GreenPrint, with a portion of every product (.17 cents) purchased going towards carbon offset credits.

Just like you’re using your energy to read this post, and your computer uses energy to load it for you, creating any product uses energy. That energy produces varying amounts of CO2 emissions.

Carbon offset credits neutralize the environmental impact of the production of our products.

In 2020 we offset over 1,350 metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

That equals:

The CO2 emissions from 245 homes' electricity use for one year.
The carbon sequestered from 9.2 acres of U.S. forests preserved in one year.

What does “carbon sequestered” mean?

Carbon sequestration is when plants and or soil capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Essentially, we need trees to trap and store CO2 from the atmosphere to mitigate climate change.

More trees = more carbon sequestered = positive impact on climate change.

Back it up - how does CO2 affect climate change?

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas and greenhouse gases are the main cause of climate change.

If you’ve ever walked into a greenhouse on a sunny day or sat in a sunroom too long, you have experienced, first hand, what’s meant by “greenhouse gas.”

Greenhouse gases absorb and radiate heat. Gases like oxygen and nitrogen make up most of our atmosphere, but our atmosphere also contains greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide.

Earth’s land and ocean surface continuously radiate thermal infrared energy, which is good because, according to Climate.gov, “Without this natural greenhouse effect, Earth’s average annual temperature would be below freezing instead of close to 60°F. But increases in greenhouse gases have tipped the Earth's energy budget out of balance, trapping additional heat and raising Earth's average temperature.”

Raising the Earth's average temperature is what we know as global warming. Climate.gov goes on to say, “Increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide are responsible for about two-thirds of the total energy imbalance that is causing Earth's temperature to rise.”

Science says that we’re at a climate tipping point. Recent studies have shown that 2020 was the second-hottest year since the temperature has been recorded. Earlier this year, the carbon dioxide concentration in the Earth's atmosphere was the highest on record.

Bringing the Earth back to balance requires both a reduction in CO2 emissions and an offset of emissions produced. And why we chose to partner with GreenPrint and IMPACT COLLECTIVE to be a carbon-neutral company.

What does one ton of carbon dioxide emissions look like?

It’s hard to imagine what that much gas looks like because it’s, well, gas.

And it’s not as simple to measure as weighing say, a one-ton 1979 Volkswagen Beetle or a baby humpback whale.

However, we believe that seeing and understanding our environmental impact has had a lasting effect on our sustainable practices and habits.

Lucky for us, the EPA has worked out calculations to help visualize the impact of offsetting gases.

And with that in mind, here are some stats that may help paint the picture.

As of June 2021, Natreve has offset 2,145 metric tons of CO2.