Do your part to combat the climate crisis and secure a future for Colorado’s wildlife by donating to offset your carbon footprint. Reduce what you can, and offset the rest.

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Check out the “Protecting Colorado’s pikas” StoryMap to learn how we are studying the impacts of climate change on the American pika.

Each donation will help pikas and other wildlife by…

Conserving carbon-sequestering grasslands in southeastern Colorado

Funding solutions to help wildlife cope with climate change

Creating a permanent refuge for prairie wildlife

How does it work?

Offset your personal or your business’s carbon footprint by donating to the Colorado Carbon Offset Partnership.  80% of your donation will be used by Southern Plains Land Trust to sequester carbon dioxide by purchasing and permanently protecting endangered prairie habitat and native wildlife. The remaining 20% will be used by Rocky Mountain Wild to conserve climate sensitive species such as pika.
Learn more by expanding the boxes below!

Fight climate change by protecting carbon-sequestering prairie

We can help pikas and other wildlife that are especially vulnerable to climate change by reducing the release of greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible. Reducing these emissions slows climate change and every fraction of a degree of warming matters. Models suggest that the slower the climate changes, the less likely we are to lose pikas from parts of Colorado by 2100. You can help by reducing your carbon footprint.  

Another effective way to slow climate change is to sequester atmospheric carbon through carbon sinks, which are nature’s reservoirs for absorbing and storing carbon and regulating the Earth’s climate. While pikas live high above the prairies of Colorado, their fate depends on the preservation of important carbon sinks like our ancient grasslands.

Prairies have been identified as a stable and long-term carbon sink that can help us address the climate crisis. Eighty percent of each donation goes to the Southern Plains Land Trust, to conserve intact, carbon-sequestering grasslands.

Southern Plains Land Trust owns or holds easements on over 38,000 acres of grassland preserves in southeast Colorado, which sequester over 15,000 metric tons of carbon annually (operated through the Climate Action Reserve)

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Fund solutions to help pika and other wildlife cope with climate change

Climate change is an existential threat for all life on the Earth. By protecting carbon sinks that absorb and store carbon from the atmosphere, carbon sequestration will help everything from pika, to prairies, to people. However, it will take time to reach the point when greenhouse gas levels stop climbing and start to steadily decline.

In the meantime, we need to help pikas and other wildlife cope with the effects of climate change that we will inevitably face. By addressing other threats we can make wildlife populations more resilient and better able to cope with climate change.

Twenty percent of each donation goes to  Rocky Mountain Wild to help pikas and other at-risk wildlife cope with the effects of climate change. Rocky Mountain Wild develops innovative solutions to conserve wildlife, through research, community science and partnerships.

 

 
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Provide a refuge for prairie wildlife, from bison to butterflies



Southern Plains Land Trust uses 100% of the funds generated by purchase of carbon offsets, to purchase and protect more grasslands. In addition to sequestering carbon, the grassland preserves are permanently protected as refuges for prairie wildlife, from bison to butterflies. Without protection, these grasslands could be plowed for agriculture or converted to energy development. Not to mention that the resident wildlife could face heavy hunting pressure.

Permanent conservation of grasslands helps advance the goal of protecting at least 30% of our planet’s land and water by 2030 to save the diversity and abundance of life on earth and reverse the negative impacts of climate change.   

 
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How much should I donate to offset my carbon footprint?

It costs $24 to offset one metric ton of carbon by protecting grasslands and $6 to fund solutions to help pikas and other wildlife cope with climate change.
Donate to offset average American carbon footprint – 16 metric tons of carbon per year
Donate $480
  • Offset an entire year of carbon emissions
  • Protect over an acre of grasslands for wildlife
  • Contribute $96 to fund solutions to help wildlife cope with climate change
Donate $240
  • Offset half of a year of carbon emissions
  • Protect over a half acre of grasslands for wildlife
  • Contribute $48 to fund solutions to help wildlife cope with climate change
Small Donations Make a Big Difference

Together many small donors can offset tons of carbon (literally!)

Donate $20

For every 24 donors who donate $20, we can…

  • Offset 16.6 metric tons of carbon
  • Protect over an acre of grasslands for wildlife
  • Contribute $96 to fund solutions to help wildlife cope with climate change
Donate to offset low carbon footprint – 9 metric tons of carbon per year

People with incomes below the 50th percentile of US income brackets tend to have smaller carbon footprints.

Donate $270
  • Offset an entire year of carbon emissions
  • Protect over a half acre of grasslands for wildlife
  • Contribute $54 to fund solutions to help wildlife cope with climate change
Donate $135
  • Offset half of a year of carbon emissions
  • Protect over a quarter acre of grasslands for wildlife
  • Contribute $27 to fund solutions to help wildlife cope with climate change

Want a more precise measurement of your carbon footprint?


Use the Cool Climate Calculator to calculate your individual or household carbon footprint, and identify actions you can take to reduce your emissions.

Enter your estimated footprint from the calculator to the right to find out how much to donate to offset your carbon footprint.
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We can help your business lead on climate

Offset your business’s carbon footprint while contributing to
local conservation initiatives right here in Colorado.

Your company can be a leader on climate! Set a goal to become carbon neutral and begin to reduce your carbon footprint now. Once you have begun implementing a plan to minimize your company’s carbon footprint as much as possible,
donate to offset the rest.

OFFSET your business’s CO2

Use the Cool Climate Business Calculator to calculate your business’s carbon footprint and build an action plan to reduce your emissions.

If you can’t offset all of your emissions this year, then enter your estimated footprint into the calculator to the right to determine what amount to donate.
Donate to help the Colorado Pika Project become carbon neutral!

Is your business already carbon neutral? If so, you can make a difference by donating to help the Colorado Pika Project become carbon neutral. We work hard to minimize our carbon footprint, but we need your help to become carbon neutral.

Contact us if you would like to help offset the Colorado Pika Project’s Carbon Footprint and have your business featured on our website.

A partnership of
Rocky Mountain Wild and Southern Plains Land Trust

Rocky Mountain Wild works to protect, connect, and restore wildlife and wildlands in the Southern Rocky Mountain region.
The Southern Plains Land Trust creates and protects a network of shortgrass prairie preserves, which ensure a future for all native animals and plants.

Colorado Pika Project occupies the ancestral and traditional lands of the Ute, Cheyenne, and Arapahoe peoples. This area was also the site of trade, hunting, gathering and healing of other indigenous peoples including the Comanche, Apache, and Shoshone. In offering this land acknowledgment, we affirm indigenous sovereignty, history, knowledge and experiences.