Sustainability Success with NativeEnergy Print

The AAR made it easy for members to purchase Renewable Energy Credits when traveling to the 2009 Annual Meeting. By simply clicking a box on the online registration page, members could choose to give USD$15 to NativeEnergy.

The AAR is pleased to have collected a total of $5,025 from 335 participants in this carbon offset program. Along with a $250 donation for the AAR’s staff travel, we sent NativeEnergy a check in the amount of $5,275. We kept 378 tons of CO2 out of the air with our carbon offset program last year – let’s top that this year!

The program was implemented through our registration site on March 10, 2009. Before this date, 417 people had already registered for our 2009 Annual Meeting. This means that 4,337 people were given the option of participating in the program. Of these, 335 participated, for a final total of 7.7 percent participation.

The AAR’s Sustainability Task Force selected NativeEnergy because of its commitment to reducing greenhouse gases while supporting its sustainability projects. NativeEnergy is one of the top carbon offset companies in the United States and the world. NativeEnergy helps build Native American, farmer-owned, community based renewable energy projects that create social, economic, and environmental benefits. NativeEnergy helps finance and build new, clean, and renewable energy projects that help create sustainable economic benefits for Native Americans, Alaska Native villages, and other local communities, and that help America’s family farmers compete with large agribusiness. These projects will displace electricity from fossil fuels and reduce other greenhouse gas emissions.

The AAR is continuing this program in 2010. We currently have a 14.4 percent participation rate, and we hope to maintain or improve on that as more members register in the coming months for the 2010 Annual Meeting. We encourage you to make this inexpensive commitment to helping make our meetings more environmentally friendly.

To learn more about NativeEnergy, visit www.nativeenergy.com.