i’ve been working on this idea for the past year + though it’s taken a beating lately with the economy + budgets being what they are i’m really happy with it’s success. i talked about the idea of including an optional line item for clients interested in carbon offset way back when. basically it’s a way to help negate a portion of a nasty cycle.

it’s been a pleasure to work with brands such as cosmo, merrell, 24 hour fitness + a handful of agencies among others on this. always surprising who declines though luckily they have been in the minority but let’s just say that not all companies are what they claim.

my help with this process has come from a great sf based organization called terra pass. specifically, if you’re a business then get in touch with mira rubin karp (business [at] terrapass.com). she’s the sales + busn development manager + can help with everything. the two big ways to work with terrapass is to join their Carbon Balanced Business Program (below) + have mira calculate the amount due to offset your office (electricity, etc). the other is for specific trips as mentioned above. either way she’s a rock star, thanks for all the help mira. here’s her explanation of everything terrapass puts together:

The TerraPass Carbon Balanced Business Program is designed to help businesses balance out the carbon emissions created from their daily operations. Businesses of all sizes have an impact on climate change and we are excited about this opportunity to further engage them in what TerraPass is doing.

The calculator looks at five aspects of a typical organization

racking up the travel miles lately and having a great time working with the likes of cosmo, barkley, 24 hour fitness and even ali vincent, the winner of nbc’s the biggest loser show. covering a few different states has left a slew thanks and i’d like to personally shout out to both portland and phoenix crews for all the help. couldn’t do what we do without a ton of help. anyone that ever thinks photography is a solo endeavor is sadly mistaken.

portland wise, always a fantastic time when you dodge the rain this time of year. colors were fabulous as was the talent. my favorite part, however, might be the meetings – can’t get much better than voodoo donuts and turntables. cheers robert.

beyond my own self indugence wanted to send up a little recognition to the clients i mentioned above as well as jdk and merrell as we’ve incorporated carbon credits into all this work. it’s far from perfect but props to these companies for taking the first of many steps towards making a difference.

i’m experimenting with additional ideas as we push into 2009. look for more background soon but in the meantime send in ideas that you’ve been playing with or using. we’ll start compiling everything for a universal release soon.

Earth Day mentions for this green week:

First of all, a handful of ideas I touched on back in 10.2007 here including writing in green causes as line items. And if you’re into the work of recent Rowell Award winner James Balog, then this post on Glacier National Park photography I previously alluded to is right up your alley.

Closer to me personally is my video point man Nico Hudak. Brilliant with motion and capable of creativity beyond mere mortals Nico is a great collaborator. We have a great things in store. While you can check out his work anytime here, inline with the cause of the week check out his documentary Triple Bottom Line (above). If you’re unfamiliar with the phrase check it out and start making it work. The NY Times Magazine even brings it up this week.

The photo community has it’s green fill via the pdnonline segment, “Shooting For Green Agencies” though you have to have a subscription (not a bad idea). More in the feature story, “Paint It Green” in PDN’s April 2008 issue.

Lastly, for all you trend setters in this week of looking ahead, don’t forget to pay attention to the future … or at least don’t ignore those who have.

Being lucky enough to live near part of the US & Canadian National Park systems and travel to other parts on a regular basis I’ve always kept an eye out for classic and historical images. It’s one thing to know changes are taking place but carries so much more of an impact when one can witness the long term affects. This can be both beneficial and depressing but overall it’s a clear avenue of the power of photography.

Recently, I came across work that the National Park Service itself, or more specifically the USGS (US Geological Survey), has put together for their own records as well as public use. This specifically deals with Glacier National Park but I’m sure there are other similar projects out there.
Landscape Change Photography is made up of two main components in a series of ongoing photography projects.

Panoramic photographs is a collection “of infrared and panchromatic photographs of Glacier National Park that were taken around 1935 with an Osborne photo-recording transit”.

The second, Repeat Photography, is the documentation of the namesake Glacier’s in the park and their “dramatic glacial recession”. (The current estimate is that every single one will be gone in our lifetime, sometime in the next 25 years.)There is a fascinating description of how the images played out and have come to be available and interpreted today. Identifying features, fires, equipment – it’s all there.

“Carrying over 75lbs of camera plus personal gear up to fire lookouts throughout the park was a demanding task. Mules can be seen in several of the photographs and were used to help the photographer transport equipment. The hundreds of photographs taken by Mr. Moe provide excellent documentation of what National Park Service sites looked like in the 1930s. The National Park Service announced the completion of this project in a newsletter excerpted below.

‘Chief Forester Coffman announces completion of a 4-year project for obtaining panoramic photographs from the 200 existing and proposed forest fire lookouts throughout the entire Federal Park System.The photographic work, done by Junior Forester Moe, entailed many hardships not only in packing the necessary equipment weighing upwards of 100 pounds to lookout points, but also in climbing trees, poles, temporary towers, or roofs of lookouts with the equipment and facing the extreme winds that occur so frequently at high elevations.

Park Service Bulletin, June 1938, pg. 6′”

Historical archives such as these that are with the Park Service and other government bodies are typically available for public viewing if not, non-commercial use. It’s one way to visually explore and pick up a spot of history. After all we’re paying for it.

Additionally, aside from the green photo opps locales such as Glacier National Park are known for, the ‘face of use’ as demonstrated by the above images is continually shifting these days. Glacier alone has been in a multitude of news pieces as a recognizable face of global warming. Most recently James Balog in a recent National Geographic Adventure feature (Portrait of a Meltdown – Oct 2007) has covered this issue and the park extensively. And in the realm of interesting and experimental photography James has carried this into a fascinating project involving 26 cameras and 300,000 images called Extreme Ice Survey.

Coming up next week, in line with what has become a push of nearly 10,000+ blogs I’ll have a few great ideas for working green within the photography realm. Tune in Oct 15th and maybe we can put a few concepts forward.