I hope everyone had a good Earth Day! My name is Aaron Robinson, and though I have only been working in Environmental Affairs for a few months, I have been an extended part of our environmental team for the last few years. I used to work in fuel efficiency and fuel conservation, efforts that directly translate into CO2 emissions reductions. Today I focus primarily on measuring our CO2 (including estimating the carbon footprint for your flight) and national and international regulations involving CO2. CO2 emissions are the biggest part of Delta’s environmental footprint, so in future posts I’ll be talking more about the steps we take for improvement and the issues we face in this area.

Last week Delta relaunched its CO2 offset program in partnership with The Nature Conservancy. This allows customers like you to offset the CO2 emissions associated with your flight by supporting The Nature Conservancy’s ongoing forest conservation and reforestation projects, in particular in the Lower Mississippi River Valley. This project is located near Monroe, Louisiana, which is actually the birthplace and original home of Delta.

Three years ago Delta launched our partnership with The Nature Conservancy with a $1 million donation. Having visited the site myself, I can personally attest to the positive impact from passenger offsets. Together we have turned unproductive agricultural fields into a bottomland hardwood forest by purchasing and planting more than 175,000 trees (about 50 have my name on them). This has restored the wildlife habitat to its natural state and is expected to capture 120,000 tons of CO2 over the forest’s lifetime.

To encourage you to get in the habit of offsetting your emissions, Delta is matching all offsets you make through May 22. You can make an offset contribution online now or after booking your next flight by selecting “Learn More” under “A Greener Way to Fly” at the bottom of your confirmation page. You can also help by making a tax-deductible gift, giving miles through our SkyWish program, or joining The Nature Conservancy’s online community to learn how you can help protect our world.

Next time you book on delta.com, please consider offsetting the emissions from your flight. Also, I’d love to hear your comments about your experience with our offset program, as well as ideas you have for improvement, expanding our partnership with The Nature Conservancy, or further topics you’d like to read about on this topic. You can share your comments below or tweet them @deltablog.

Aaron Robinson
Project Manager, Environmental Affairs