Carbon Neutral Indiana

Anne Laker and Daniel Poynter just applied for The JMK Innovation Prize. It's one of the most respected sources of support for early stage social entrepreneurs:

The J.M.K. Innovation Prize seeks to identify, support, and elevate innovators who are spearheading transformative early-stage projects in the fields of social justice, the environment, and heritage conservation.

In 2021, we will award up to ten Prizes, each including a cash award of $150,000 over three years, plus $25,000 in technical assistance funds, for a total award of $175,000. Awardees also receive guidance through the Fund and its resource network, providing tools and training that can help turn innovative ideas into life-changing social impacts.

Read our application below:

Rock Emmert & Kris Lasher are super community organizers in southern Indiana. To learn about some of their good work, see Southwestern Indiana Citizens for Quality of Life, this Indy Star article, or this NRDC blog post.

"Happy Earth Day 

We're excited to learn recently that our home is carbon neutral. 

Kris and I are grateful for our solar and geothermal (sun and earth) energy, our woods, our hybrid car, and continuing education.  Thank you to Daniel Poynter, Carbon Neutral Indiana, and the Indiana Forest Alliance, for your advocacy for a cleaner and healthier environment. To learn more about climate change and to determine your carbon footprint, visit www.CarbonNeutralIndiana.org. "

We just got 100 new yard signs yesterday, designed by Andy Fry and Lee Eisenbarth. There are already about 100 installed around Indiana, and according to INDOT about 200,000 people drive by them every day.

Kara Hackett wrote Celebrate Earth Day in Indiana by going carbon neutral. She highlighted Kurt Roembke & Sarah Suraci, a carbon neutral household in the area. Thanks kto Kurt and Sarah for talking to Kara about CNI and helping make this article happen.

Below is a video of Carbon Neutral Indiana's first birthday celebration. About 44 people in the community came together on April 7, 2021.

Anne Laker (Development, CNI)

00:10​ - Welcome

Daniel Poynter (Co-Founder, CNI)

02:18​ - How Carbon Neutral Indiana started

05:46​ - Accomplishments in our first year

06:44​ - Portraits of all who became carbon neutral

07:22​ - Animation of how our community grew

Josh & Cara Bach (first carbon neutral household)

07:45​ - What he sees in CNI

Chris Powers (Co-Founder, CNI)

09:35​ - Present state of the community (e.g. finances, impact)

Daniel Poynter (Co-Founder, CNI)

13:28​ - Future of CNI

Chris Powers (Co-Founder, CNI)

17:39​ - Call representatives from the break out rooms (What makes our community unique? Why is it important it grow quickly?)

17:50​ - Robin Applegarth

18:14​ - Zach Day

19:33​ - Brian Will

20:14​ - Larry Zimmer

Anne Laker (Development, CNI)

12:16​ - Announce fundraising goal

24:55​ - Rae Schnapp, PhD

27:28​ - Nancy Moldenhauer

32:40​ - John Bohlmann

Daniel Poynter (Co-Founder, CNI)

34:55​ - Wrap up meeting, story of Norris Henderson

Norris Henderson

37:12​ - Clip from interview about social movements

Carbon Neutral Indiana has helped facilitate bipartisan climate legislation in Indiana, along with several other organizations. Below, see Daniel's testimony on March 30, 2021. 

Also see:

• Summary of the legislation on NPR
• Previous blog post

Climate Xchange is a 501c3 that provides "research, education, and advocacy to move us towards a low-carbon economy through market-based mechanisms." They host a monthly meeting where representatives from the states provide updates.

Daniel Poynter of Carbon Neutral Indiana provided an update for Indiana at 37:40.

It's here! Here is our new yard sign! Thank you to Andy Fry and Lee Eisenbarth for this new design.

There are about 100 of our first batch scattered around Indiana. Would you believe that about 200,000 people drive by them every day?

If you look closely, you'll see this one says Carbon Neutral Ohio... Stay tuned...

On Mon Mar 22, 2021, some of our community gathered to have a discussion. We have about $40,000 to invest annually and are growing quickly. As a learning network, we aim to learn in public and collect and synthesize research. That way our community can become more and more knowledgable and invest our resources in the most effective climate solutions possible.

We explored the basics of carbon offsets as well as what criteria we might use to select our next investments in carbon offset projects.

Slides available here.

Thank you for participating:

• Chris Haynes, PhD
• Molly O'Donnell
• Rebecca Stoops
• Caroline Nellis
• Anne Laker
• Daniel Poynter
• David Vonnegut-Gabovitch (co-owner of BRICS)
• Ray Wilson
• Larry Zimmer
• Chris Powers
• Brian Will
• Josh Kruer

Mentioned in the conversation:

• Cascades Inn, Bloomington IN
• Mark Carney's Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets
• EPA's Green Chill program
• First hemp mill
• Verra's database of certified projects
• Mad Ag

NationBuilder is the nation's leading software for grassroots movements. For example, the tech savvy Presidential candidate Andrew Yang used it for his campaign.

NationBuilder is so proud of what Carbon Neutral Indiana is accomplishing with their platform that they just published a case study of our work.

Recently, they hosted a webinar highlighting five success stories. They selected Carbon Neutral Indiana -- along with ICAN which one the Nobel Prize in 2017. See 26:50 in this video: