The Scoop on We Are Neutral: Carbon, Climate and a Bonnaroo Ticket Giveaway

If you’re planning on traveling this summer, you are likely going to be leaving a huge carbon footprint behind. Luckily, We Are Neutral, the Gainesville based nonprofit works to create meaningful carbon offset programs for individuals, residences and businesses.

A carbon offset is a reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide or greenhouse gases made to offset an emission made elsewhere. Whether it’s traveling by plane, leaving your lights on or driving to a music festival, nearly every activity has a carbon impact that We Are Neutral works to negate.

“Everything has a carbon footprint,” Anna Sampson, Director of We Are Neutral says. “We can offset their carbon footprint making them carbon neutral.”

In addition to providing energy efficient home upgrades for low-income residents, We Are Neutral offsets carbon emissions by planting trees. So far, they have planted 50,000 native trees on local conservation lands with the Alachua Conservation Trust, Inc.

Their carbon offset programs are not just for individuals, but also businesses, organizations and institutions like the University of Florida. Another notable client they have acquired is the popular music festival Bonnaroo, which has partnered with We Are Neutral for its seventh year.

Each year We Are Neutral has the opportunity to bring 18 members of the team to set up a booth in the heart of the festival. Here, they give attendees an opportunity to offset the carbon footprint created from traveling to Bonnaroo.

“It’s a really great opportunity for all the attendees to learn about the impact,” Sampson said. “You know, a lot of times we fly and drive and we just don’t think about it. So, we make sure people understand there are consequences to our actions, and then we give them a really simple solution on how they can take responsibility for that.”

This solution is to donate $5 to We Are Neutral, who turn these donations into offsetting their carbon footprints, she said. By donating $5, the festival-goers are also entered into a raffle where two lucky winners can score free Bonnaroo tickets for the following year.

“I think people were really excited to be engaged in what we were doing knowing that they were supporting a really good cause and at the same time you get rewarded for it by potentially winning a pair of Bonnaroo tickets,” Sampson said.

In addition to the raffle, We Are Neutral also holds an online contest (going on now!) that awards two tickets to this year’s Bonnaroo.  All contest participants can enter multiple times by spreading the message of We Are Neutral on social media accounts. These entries can come from acts like hash-tagging #RooNeutral on social media, viewing their Facebook page or sharing a Bonnaroo video.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity, and the more that you spread the word about what We Are Neutral is doing and about climate change — the more entries you get,” Sampson said.

Though there are only two lucky winners, Sampson hopes participants will help spread knowledge of the topic by sharing their posts online and help educate others on how they can work to reduce their own carbon footprint.

“Make teeny tiny changes in your life, and celebrate them big,” Sampson said.

According to Sampson, some of the easiest changes you can make this summer are things you probably didn’t even know made an impact. These can include:

1. Carpooling with friends instead of taking multiple vehicles.
2. Skip the burger once in a while. — Sampson says beef production is responsible for creating half of all greenhouse gas emissions.
3. Packing food in reusable containers rather than plastic bags.
4. Don’t buy plastic bottles, use reusable ones. If you’re going to a music festival, there’s probably refilling stations!
5. Ditch the straw. — Millions of plastic straws are becoming waste each day.

These small changes can make a positive impact on the earth by practicing them every day, but they’re especially practical for travelers and those going to festivals this summer.

Bonnaroo makes sustainability a key part of the festival, which is why We are Neutral has partnered with them for seven years.

“A large majority of who we work with do it because they really care and think that it’s the right thing to do,” she said. “Bonnaroo is one of those examples.”

The festival provides a great opportunity for the We are Neutral team to both spread their message and educate others about carbon and the climate while immersing themselves in the vibrant festival scene and infectious positivity.

“One of their [Bonnaroo’s] mottos is ‘radiate positivity’ and you can feel it,” Sampson said. “Everyone is happy and everybody high fives each other. So it’s the same thing, let’s take care of each other while we’re there and take care of the planet too.”

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To learn more about the online contest to win tickets to Bonnaroo 2017, follow the link: https://gleam.io/BVAwh/win-2-tickets-to-bonnaroo-2017 and be sure to use the hashtag #WeAreNeutral or #RooNeutral in any of your posts for the contest!

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