Climate & Nature...

One of my favorite charities is American Forests. Every dollar you donate results in the planting of a new tree. But have you ever wondered how much good a single tree will do for the environment?

Now you can find out. The free Tree Carbon Calculator from the U.S. Forest Service and the Center for Urban Forest Research lets you find out all kinds of cool things about your trees:

• How much carbon will it sequester over the year, or over its lifetime?
• If it's a shade tree, how much energy will you save thanks to it? And how much carbon dioxide will you avoid as a result?
• What are the future benefits of any new planting project?  

There is a catch (isn't there always?). The calculator is calibrated to California climates, so it's not 100% accurate elsewhere, but you'll probably be able to find a setting that's pretty close to your own neck of the woods.

The program was designed for Excel 2003 on Windows XP. It definitely won't work on a Mac, but it may work with other version of Excel or Windows. 

But hey, it's free, and it's good information, so download it and give it a tree. I mean, give it a try.