By DAVID ROGERS , Daily News Staff Writer
Friday, November 25, 2005

When it comes to taking care of the world in which we live, most people know to drop newspapers, aluminum cans, glass and plastic bottles in the recycling bin.

Less clear, though, is what individuals can do to lessen air pollution created by automobile and plane travel, as well as home energy use.

Buying a low-emissions vehicle is one way to help.

Now, the Conservation Fund — an organization that works to preserve wildlife habitats and protect bodies of water and open spaces within communities — is offering another remedy.

Go Zero, launched nationally by the group in October, is a campaign that gives citizens a way to count the specific amount of climate-warming carbon dioxide they create every year and then do something to counteract it, according to Palm Beach resident Elizabeth Dowdle, the head of the Conservation Fund's Florida office and former vice chairwoman of the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Each American on average generates 20 tons of carbon dioxide annually, according to the Fund.

"It creates climate change, global warming," Dowdle said. "The greenhouse gases create habitat loss."

To participate in Go Zero, visit www.gocarbonzero.org and estimate how much carbon dioxide your activities produce a year. The calculator shows how many trees it will take to neutralize your activities' impact on climate change (i.e.: "go zero").

The next step, to counter the amount of CO2 produced, is planting trees, which convert the environmentally harmful gas to oxygen.

Participants don't plant the trees themselves. That's what the Conservation Fund (www.conservationfund.org) does, at $2 per tree, plus a $5 administrative fee. Groups working for the Fund are replanting forests in the Southeast, particularly in the lower Mississippi Valley, Dowdle said. "That's an area that has lost 20 million acres of hard forest over the last century," she said.

The program makes it easy to determine individual CO2 emissions and do something about global warming, she said.

"The tough thing has been it's such a complicated, big issue that it is hard for us to know what to do. What this calculator does is give each of us as individuals a way to make a difference," Dowdle said.

The annual Go Zero figure created by the calculator actually represents how much carbon dioxide the trees will absorb and neutralize over the course of 70 years.

Timothy L. Hernandez of Delray Beach-based developer New Urban Communities learned of the program and plunked down $43 to participate. He said his Go Zero figure is probably higher than many because he drives his SUV to get to job sites.

"I probably pollute more than I should," said Hernandez, a Conservation Fund benefactor. "But I can't drive a Mini-Cooper to a job site. I'd be laughed off the site."

Participating in Go Zero makes sense to Hernandez. His company creates properties — like the Greenwich, a complex of townhomes, lofts, offices and retail space under construction in Jupiter — that are pedestrian-friendly and reduce residents' need to drive outside the community to work, dine and shop.

"We are all responsible for our impact on the planet," Hernandez said. "This is a small, symbolic way of acknowledging that and doing something about it in a tangible way. You know, practice what you preach."

Dowdle said it cost her less than $20 to offset her CO2 footprint. And, after becoming more aware of the environmental consequences of driving, Dowdle is trading four wheels for two more often.

"The interesting thing is I'm taking more walks and I'm riding my bike for errands. I'm healthier and I'm enjoying it," Dowdle said.

Go Zero is an off-shoot of The Conservation Fund's five-year-old carbon sequestration program. That program has, according to the Conservation Fund, protected 20,000 acres of carbon-trapping forests and planted more than 5 million trees.

For information on corporate participation in Go Zero, call (703) 525-6300.