Think of a carbon footprint as the total impact of a person or corporation's actions on ecological well-being. The greater the footprint, the greater the impact. All of us generate a carbon footprint just by living, but the goal is to live more lightly.

You can find free carbon footprint calculators online. We recommend this one from the Nature Conservancy.

A carbon offset is a unit of measurement that quantifies the value of an emission-reducing activity. People purchase offsets to balance out (or neutralize) harmful environmental impact one place with positive impact somewhere else. Carbon offsets are quantified as metric tons of carbon dioxide (MTCO2).

Eliminating or reducing emissions from your activities is the goal, but getting to “net zero” is not always possible. Offsets are helpful when you cannot otherwise reduce the emissions generated by your activities. Notably, COREworks projects generate net-positive offsets, meaning the projects bring additional ecological or societal benefits, in addition to balancing out your carbon debt.

There are many ways to live lightly. Opportunities await in how we travel, eat, shop, manage our homes and more. A quick online search will offer a bounty of tips both large and small. Reduce what you can, and offset the rest with COREworks.