The ride is done! An epic day, here’s a shot (with my wife Jacinta) from near the start line:
Hi Friends & Family,
On September 29th, 2012 I’m cycling 102 miles (with 9,600 feet of climbing!) to raise awareness and support for Carbon Offsets To Alleviate Poverty (COTAP) and its three projects in Mozambique, Nicaragua, and Uganda.
I’m not sure how many of you remember (or if you know about) the Millennium Development Goals that were set by world leaders around the turn of the Millennium, but they had a deadline of 2015 which is fast approaching!! By contributing here you are having a direct impact on two of them and probably an indirect impact on ALL of the other six. To read more about them (after you make your contribution :-) visit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Development_Goals.
I truly appreciate your support for this cause.
Thanks,
Michael
My event details
- Event: Levi’s Gran Fondo – (www.levisgranfondo.com)
- Date: Saturday, September 29th 2012
- Gran Route: 102.4 miles with 9,611 feet of climbing (!)
- Location: Santa Rosa, CA
My fundraising goal
You can support my ride by transforming some or all of your annual CO2 emissions into wages through COTAP (at right). My goal is for friends and family to address 300 tonnes of their collective annual emissions.
The average American carbon footprint (from driving, home energy use, and flying) is approximately 18 tonnes of CO2 per year, but you can of course offset a portion of your footprint if you like.
If you don’t know what your carbon footprint is, you can use COTAP’s thorough-but-easy carbon calculator (but return to this page for your transaction to automatically count towards my fundraising goal!).
More About COTAP
Based in Oakland, CA, COTAP connects individuals’ carbon footprints with accredited forestry projects in least-developed countries. Through the instrument and system of carbon offsets, COTAP enables you to pay the poorest people in the world for planting and maintaining trees which sequester the carbon dioxide which you generate through your lifestyle activities which require the burning of fossil fuels. COTAP empowers folks like you to address your personal contribution to global warming, while also creating wages for the poorest people in the world.
COTAP’s initial portfolio – in Mozambique, Uganda, and Nicaragua – is poised to generate at least $890K in community payments, an amount it seeks to scale to $30M annually. With every COTAP offset transaction, 90.9% of funds goes to projects and on average 60.4% goes to rural communities as wages for planting and maintaining trees.
Tax deductibility
The entire amount of a COTAP contribution is tax-deductible for U.S. residents because COTAP is an IRS-recognized 510(c)3 public charity.
