Hello All, The current trend with the environmental conservationists is to be ‘green’ and minimize OR lessen the impact as much as possible, ones contribution of things that may pose harm to the environment. This may necessitate conservation efforts and making beneficial contributions back to the environment for the purpose of reducing the harmful impact from ones own carbon emissions beyond that which conservation efforts are able to achieve by purchasing ‘carbon offsets‘. The idea behind carbon offsets is to reduce the net carbon emissions of individuals or organizations indirectly, through proxies who reduce their emissions and/or increase their absorption of greenhouse gases. A wide variety of offset actions are available; tree planting is the most common. “Due to their indirect nature, many types of offset are difficult to verify.” The trend, (because of its public relations appeal) is prompting celebrates such as Arnold Schwarzenegger to purchase carbon offsets (in Arnolds case in the form of planting of trees) to offset the carbon emissions caused by his private jet and Hummer. Some consumers are also trending towards buying ‘green products’ and swaying purchases towards companies that contribute to the environment thru carbon offset purchases. The question is: Can a basic formula for “carbon offset” value be determined for a feral / domestic honeybee colony OR pollinators in general? We do know that: ‘Younger trees take up more carbon.’ Perhaps, pollinators in forested areas would contribute young tree growth by pollination of seeds which would grow into saplings.. CO2 intake increases after seed and fruit producing plants are pollinated. ‘In one study the CO2 intake of the bean and apple plant were examined; it was found that after pollination these plants had increased photosynthetic rates, and net CO2 assimilation rate also increased due to the embryo growth.’ ‘Plants consume more CO2 when they are producing nectar.’ Carbon offsets perhaps might be: 1. Planting and preserving bee habitat areas 2. Providing nest sites for bee pollinators. 3. Protecting the feral bees. 4. Supporting your local beekeeper, by buying their products. Considering the wide area bees forage, perhaps a substantial carbon offset may exist in this area, and may have a potential monetary value from those wishing to purchase carbon offsets OR just wanting to help the environment. Joe Waggle ~ Derry, PA ‘Bees Gone Wild Apiaries' FeralBeeProject.com http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/H...neybeeArticles ****************************************************** * Full guidelines for BEE-L posting are at: * * http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm * ******************************************************