From Netflix and Amazon Prime to more niche options like BirchBox and Dollar Shave Club, monthly subscriptions have made shopping effortless and our lives more entertaining. But a new one actually helps us make a real impact in the world.
Sustainable travel tour operator Intrepid Travel in a partnership with Offset Earth has just launched a monthly subscription service starting at US$6.50 that helps travelers offset their personal emissions and make positive lifestyle changes for the environment via climate initiatives all over the world.
“Part of what makes the climate crisis so intimidating is the sheer scale of it, but in reality, a collection of small efforts made by individuals can add up to meaningful change,” says Leigh Barnes, chief customer officer for Intrepid Travel. “[This program] turns the actions of individuals, independently and easily taking accountability for their own footprint, into a massive collective effort to mitigate the global community’s carbon output and enforce reduction strategies worldwide.” Intrepid Travel has been carbon-neutral for ten years and in 2018 was recognized as the world’s largest travel B Corporation. This year the company has become climate positive, offsetting more carbon than it emits through its trips and tours.
There are three tiers of subscriptions for Offset Earth: Helper for the everyday citizen, Booster for those who drive or fly more than average and Mega for people who want to offset even more carbon than they produce. There are also family plans available. Subscribers’ carbon emissions will be offset with Gold Standard credits, removing 22 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere each year.
For each subscription, Offset Earth will also plant 12 trees, and Intrepid Travel will match those 12 trees. For those who aren’t quite ready to commit to a monthly subscription, they can make a one-off tree donation starting at $4.50 USD, which will fund the planting of 25 trees and an additional 25 trees matched by Intrepid. Trees will be planted in Kenya’s Kijabe Forest, a short drive from Nairobi, by Eden Reforestation Projects, which employs locals including single mothers to plant and keep the forest safe.
Subscribers will receive a monthly report showing how many trees they’ve planted and the amount of carbon they’ve helped to offset. They will also be asked to commit to other ways to help the environment like reducing single-use plastics, avoiding fast fashion and using public transportation.
“We find this really resonates with people--a subscription rooted in climate action,” says Mikey Sadowski, marketing director for Intrepid Travel North America. “The idea is to really engage our customers and the wider travel community in our climate journey.”
Make 2020 the year you abandon one of your umpteen on-demand entertainment services and start saving the planet, one tree at a time.
