Have you ever tried to calculate your carbon emissions? If you are curious, you can check out the EPA’s website: https://www3.epa.gov/carbon-footprint-calculator/ . This may spark a conversation in your household about how you can make small changes to offset your own carbon footprint.

I try to do my best with certain environmentally-friendly decisions:

• Holding onto my older car which has 55mpg (but dear me I would love to have something shiny and new)

• Printing less for work and using energy efficient technology

• Turning lights off when not in use

• Ordering items to be delivered in larger bundles than a bunch of smaller packages (patience is painful on this one)

• Choosing products that use less packaging (why does it need to be wrapped 20 times in plastic around a box?!) and use less energy to make

• Living a less consumer-centric lifestyle (Buy less- it really feels great especially when you move every 2 years like me).

• Plant shady plants and promote the use of less concrete and use energy efficient materials.

However, when it comes to work, I am finding it challenging to offset carbon. This made me feel like a trash panda. So, I have decided to donate a tree for every transaction this year to offset the carbon footprint I simply can’t seem to remove because of outdated regulations (think of all the paperwork that needs to be signed in ink as per the lender or the deed recorder), driving, laptop and phone usage, etc. For each tree, I calculate it will take 3-5 years of growth to offset the carbon emissions per transaction. After 3-5 years, we are in the plus and offsetting other carbon footprints! How great is that?

Stay positive and try to make change with an impact. For the month of August, I chose One Tree Planted organization to start planting some saplings. There are local townships that offer Shade Tree Donations or programs to plant locally. For Cheltenham Township, you can even donate a tree via venmo!

I hope this initiative sparks a conversation at home about what your family can do to help our environment recover from our own uses and that my clients can feel good about being carbon neutral from their purchase or sale of property!