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Climate Change Application!

I built this site, https://www.offshoots.io, myself, despite having a full time job, multiple kids and a wife to take care of, and barely any time. I'm incredibly proud of it, and i'm continuing to work on improving it every single day! Thanks to this wonderful community for the inspiration!

My site allows users to sign up and connect their bank/credit card, and select categories of purchases (such as "Gas Station" and "Farmers Market") that it will track. When users make a purchase in that category, my site will calculate the amount of carbon an average purchase in that category produces, and match with an organization working to fight climate change in a corresponding sector (so, Wind Energy to offset a Gas Station purchase). It will then send you an email with this information (carbon created, offset amount, offset organization, sector, etc) and a link that will allow you to click and process the payment (usually around a dollar or so). If no organization can be found in that sector, we default to planting a tree, which you can set to your default option.

I'm currently looking for 50 test users, since i know there are bound to be issues and i'd love to get user feedback / iterate on my site and make it better!

If you are interested in fighting climate change and helping a fellow hacker out, please head over to offshoots.io and sign up, and let me know on this post that you've joined!

Thank you all again for the inspiration!

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    Well, damn!! I was encouraged to see another scientists in the group but I guess this isn't the case. I'm looking for people to help me create a easy to deploy, almost universally usable (science background preferred, or IT) device for monitoring certain ecosystems for a particular atmospheric component and potentially multiple components. I'm still in the research phase.

    Frankly, I'm one of "those" members of the scientific community harboring multiple doubts of the accuracy of the IPCC data (from proof that I have been researching); the use of poor scientific methodology, lost data and accusations of a data cover-up by the IPCC, reports of commonplace theft of environmental data recorders in Australia, the manner by which the initial climate data was gathered (in the middle of the ocean, in a boat. Likely to have great data anomalies there...). And Klaus Schmidt is like Simon Bar Sinister, from the old Bullwinkle cartoons. He's been planning this "Great Reset" for 50 YEARS and Covid came along and that was his golden ticket. But I don't want to bore you with all THAT whist your celebration fete rages into the night!!

    If you have difficulties getting your project to fly I can help point you in the right direction, if it's "carbon offset credits'' you wish to be in the market for. I have a very good friend who's an expert in that particular subject (we're bother degreed in Natural Resource Mgt) and I might be able to help you if this doesn't go off as expected. (Personally, I think the entire "buying carbon credit" trend is just that, a trend that makes people feel better, somehow, and they receive special status within their "tribe" for taking part. As a Libertarian, and a natural skeptic, on TOP of being a scientist in a related field, I don't see any other purpose for the "carbon credit" bc it doesn't help or serve the environment (unless it's a huge amount of conservation funding or the contribution of 3000 cottonwood or pine trees for an area of special concern.

    GOOD LUCK ALL THE SAME!! People will enjoy it bc it will make them feel good...remember me when you're the next Elon Muck, please!? I'd like a rocket ship ride!!

    Cheers,
    Debbe

    PsS. To follow up on the next question...couldn't they just pay with Crypto, Swipe, Klara, or PayPal? All very good intermediaries between the customer, you, and their accounts...

  2. 1

    Like this idea, I wonder how keen users will be to connect their bank accounts? Would be great to be able to see which banks are able to be linked on your site, also might be able to allow the user to purchase shares in green companies or green EFT's to offset their carbon.

    Good luck.

    1. 1

      I think that "carbon offsets" are the most ridiculous concept since.....global warming! The media, IT, social media, and gigantic corporations (many. with ties to the Chinese Communist Party).
      I'm planning to write extensively about this subject off this site on my private blog, "Ecollusion" ( as soon as I settle into the right platform to write). Ask yourself the following and see how you feel about it -

      1. Have you wondered HOW China, of all countries, got into the Paris Climate Accord in the first place? Seems a little off piste for the Chinese Communist Party, doesn't it?

      2. According the the "RULES" set out by the WEF, the IPCC, and the very evil Klaus Schmidt, China - the country with the largest so called "carbon footprint" on the planet, is ALLOWED under the IPCC "laws", to continue using and burning the crap out of coal and they have been graciously permitted to destroy as much habitat as they wish to supply the world with precious minerals to operate the wind turbines and solar arrays. While the rest of the world is literally COVERED UP with NEPA laws, EPA rules, USDA rules, Biden;s decrees, etc etc but China is allowed to continue to build their economy, fund the Belt and Road Project? then...who the hell knows.

      This "environmental justice" THING is growing to a monster of gargantuan size and is fraught with secrets and strange programs to be implemented along with the "Great Reset".

      Get educated.
      www.ipcc.org and wef.org are the two places to start.

      Food for thought...

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        Seems you do care about China, but you only put assumptions and conjectures without any solid data or evidence. So can you please make your point more convincing?

        For CO2 emission per capita, in 2018 China is 8 ton/person, while US is 16 ton/person. And there are a lot of other countries emit way more CO2 than these two countries by capita.
        I am sure there are companies polluted environment in China. However, the same thing happens in other countries, and Chinese companies are more aware of environmental issue.
        Your opinion is very limited to your biased information source, and you only mentioned the negative side of one issue.

        If you really paying attention to China and care about climate change , you might want to research the development in clean energy industry in China, and also the policy made by CCP that encourages people to live a environmentally friendly lifestyle.

        Not knowing these, or not mentioning any of these, I think you are simply talking about how much you dislike China, rather than caring about the climate change.

    2. 1

      Thats an awesome idea @craigvl, thanks for the feedback! i'll definitely write this down as something to look into for the next iteration

  3. 1

    Woo that's really great

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