In Apr 2020, Lucas Bleyle was a freshman at Purdue University. He published a front page story in their newspaper, The Exponent, called Purdue makes slow start toward carbon neutrality.

The newspaper wanted him to cover other topics, in addition to climate, but he wanted to focus solely on that issue. So he stepped down from the paper.

When we learned what student journalists like Lucas make per article, we realized we might be able to underwrite his passion. That's when David and Katie Harting -- a carbon neutral household in Westfield, IN -- stepped in.

Generously, David and Katie decided to sponsor Lucas's climate journalism for the fall of 2021. If it goes well, they'd like to sponsor him for another semester.

Our current plan is to brainstorm story ideas with Lucas. As the journalist, he gets the final say about what he writes about. He also gets the final say about what he submits to be published. Ultimately, The Exponent gets the final say on what gets published. But Carbon Neutral Indiana can participate in generating story ideas and connecting him to our resources throughout the state and country.

Lucas has four semesters left at Purdue. That's a lot of articles! Perhaps enough for a book when he graduates. One idea we've explored is analyzing Purdue as a particular example of a larger pattern. Purdue is a land grant university in a conservative state. As such, it has unique challenges decarbonizing. There are about 70 other universities in its situation. Perhaps Lucas's work could be crafted into a book that provides insight for other universities like Purdue. Who knows!

If this goes well, we'd like to connect other carbon neutral households to student journalists at other universities throughout Indiana. We could have a cohort of journalists, around the state, that meet a few times a week to support one another, share resources, and tackle bigger stories together.

Student Climate Journalism

Starting in the fall of 2021, we are underwriting one student climate journalist at a major university. Learn more here.

Verified Carbon Project in Indiana

Starting in May, 2021, we've been shepherding a working group that's creating a verified project in Indiana. More details soon.

Summer Leadership Program

We hosted a program for 15 college students during the summer of 2020. We've not found funding to continue the project but would like to. See its heavily documented success here.

We presented at the Midwest Sustainability Summit this spring. Video below.

Indiana's leaders are deciding to clean up their carbon trash and become carbon neutral. Below are some of the Indiana households that are carbon neutral. See the full list here.

Science Authorities

Philanthropy Authorities

Legal Authorities

Medical Authorities

Sustainability Authorities

Government Authorities

Community Organizing Authorities

Business & Entrepreneurship Authorities

Religious Authorities

Finance Authorities

Every individual and organization has a carbon footprint. This is the amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) released annually.

A person or thing is carbon neutral when it does not add greenhouse gases (GHGs) to the atmosphere. Carbon neutrality means being net-neutral -- the entity still emits some GHGs, but it takes responsibility for its carbon footprint and cleans up its “carbon trash.” How? It invests financially in projects that soak up the same amount it emits. For example, a tree-planting project or a landfill methane-capture project.

Anything can be carbon neutral -- an individual, a household, a company, a specific product that a company makes, a city, a state, a country, even the entire world.

Carbon Neutral Indiana (CNI) is a project of the Indiana Forest Alliance (IFA), a 501c3 non-profit. Every year, non-profits make their Form 990 tax documents available publicly. You can explore IFA's financial documents using ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer tool. CNI was founded April 7, 2020. Once the most recent 990 document is available, we'll share it here.

The climate crisis requires us to move quickly. The two largest obstacles to CNI growing quickly are education and trust:

Obstacle #1 - Education

According to researchers at Yale, over 50% of Hoosiers are worried about climate. Most of them don't know it's easy to measure their carbon footprints and affordable to clean them up. Once people learn this, many want to do their part and "clean up their carbon trash." So the first obstacle to growing quickly is simply education.

Obstacle #2 - Trust

The voluntary carbon market has been around since the 90s. Still, it's new to a lot of people. Because it's new -- and because it's so abstract -- it requires more trust. So we at CNI are following the advice of Stephen M. R. Covey from his book The Speed of Trust to intentionally cultivate and grow trust. Radical transparency is one way to do this, and we're looking for the best ways to do this.

"I visited Iceland... [and saw how far the glaciers receded]. [They] don’t just come back... I think becoming carbon neutral is one great way to help."

Colleen Altschul's household is the first carbon neutral household in Carmel, Indiana. More importantly, her selfless leadership enabled hers to be the world's first carbon neutral llamas.

"I visited Iceland in 2016.

Some locals pointed to the ground and told me, ‘This is where the glaciers used to be.’ Then we got in a car and drove thirty minutes to where they are now. Thirty minutes! They said, ‘We don’t have a lot of time left. They’re melting quickly and will be gone soon.’

We all notice that our weather is getting more extreme.

When we hear about the glaciers on TV, for example, it seems like a small thing. Until you see how incredibly large they are -- and you see how much space is left when they melt -- it’s just… it’s really hard to appreciate without seeing it with your own eyes.

And glaciers don’t just come back. They’ve formed over hundreds of thousands of years. If we lose them…!

Why should others consider becoming carbon neutral? I mean, if you care one iota about our planet I don’t know why you wouldn’t want to be carbon neutral. If you have kids especially -- they have to live here even longer than you do. If you can leave the place as nice or even better than when you found it than great. Right now, though, we’re on the path to totally destroying it.

There are a lot of people who want to help but don’t know how. I think becoming carbon neutral is one great way to help.

Getting my household’s carbon footprint measured felt good. For me it was very easy. The person I spoke with from Carbon Neutral Indiana was clear at explaining all of the calculations. Before the call, I was sold on carbon neutrality already. For me it was just a matter of doing the measurements." -Colleen Altschul

"CNI... showed me that individual action does add up. It can lead to systems change."

David Harting is a software engineer and lives in Westfield:

"Before my carbon inventory, I felt a lot of existential dread about the climate crisis.

I was definitely looking forward to my meeting with CNI though. I was excited to see if I could do something practical and useful to help.

After the call -- and after everything CNI walked me through -- some things that I thought were impossible are actually achievable. I’m surprised how much more optimistic I was after the meeting.

I tend to be pessimistic about the climate crisis because it’s a systems problem. I thought individual action simply didn’t add up, but the way CNI framed it showed me that individual action does add up. It can lead to systems change.

I think most households could afford to be carbon neutral, and that some grassroots momentum will go a long way. And I think others should be carbon neutral because I truly believe we’re in a climate emergency, and our government is not interested - currently - in taking emergency action. So even though it’s largely a systems problem, best solved with policy, individuals have to step up and lead. Then hopefully the government will follow."

"[On] Earth Day I invested $1,000... Why? Because it's local. I know what the money is used for. And I want to make an impact on climate change."

Dr. Anne Greist, MD, is certified carbon neutral through Carbon Neutral Indiana. Carbon Neutral Ohio is a state chapter in a growing grassroots movement.

She is co-founder and co-medical director of the Indiana Hemophilia & Thrombosis Center, Inc. A board certified hematologist-oncologist, she received her MBBS in 1977 from the University of London and Associate of King’s College and completed her medicine internship at the Kings College Hospital Health District in London in 1977. She was a Family Practice resident at St. Joseph’s Hospital in South Bend, Indiana, and then an Internal Medicine resident at Indiana University Medical Center. She completed her fellowship in medical oncology and hematology at Indiana University, and a fellowship in medical oncology and clinical pharmacology at the Lilly Clinic at Wishard Memorial Hospital, in Indianapolis.

From 1986 to 1993 she was an Assistant Professor for the Department of Medicine, Hematology-Oncology Section, at Indiana University, where from 1993 to 1998 she was Clinical Associate Professor. Dr. Greist continues with Indiana University as an Associate Professor, Part-Time, of Clinical Medicine. In July 1998, she opened the Indiana Hemophilia & Thrombosis Center (IHTC) with Dr. Amy Shapiro.

Inspiration

"... It is inspiring to see local startups, such as [Carbon Neutral Ohio], figuring out how to communicate with homeowners and small businesses about their carbon footprint." --Bill McKibben, Climate Author, in The New Yorker [8/5/20]

Leadership

In the summer of 2020, we hosted 15 college students for a summer leadership program. Many were environmental studies students who had their summer internships canceled because of the pandemic. Carbon Neutral Indiana created a mutually beneficial program that enabled these students to learn soft and hard skills related to climate action, social entrepreneurship, and leadership.

The video below was recorded after our first week:

Learn more about this program, and read case studies, here.

Agency

"Others should consider becoming carbon neutral because it’s easy and it relieves a lot of anxiety. Many people think they are powerless. But they don’t have to feel that way. It was surprisingly simple to just do it and become carbon neutral myself." --Michael Grady, Earlham College student

Help the Planet

"I am carbon neutral because I dramatically reduced my household emissions and participate in a carbon offset program through [Carbon Neutral Ohio]. Check out [their] website to see how you can reduce emissions and help the planet." --Brian Will, HR professional, serving at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center as the First Impressions Program Coordinator. Brian lives in Columbus, and is the first carbon neutral households in Ohio.

Friendship

"I loved the connectedness of everyone [in the summer internship]... This was more valuable than my average class. [It] was more hands-on and allowed me to grow as a person and in my knowledge." --Beverely Thompson, Indiana University student

"We've built such a close community [with this summer internship]... and it's more the community motivating me than even the climate action we're promoting." --Siddharth Das, Indiana University student

Hope

"Why should others consider becoming carbon neutral? It sounds cliche but -- to save the planet. Before I felt a little helpless, as far as how to actually do something about the climate. Now it feels like I’m taking steps to do something at least. That feels pretty good." --Stephen Seiter, M.D.

Efficacy

"I’ve been thinking about becoming carbon neutral for a long time. Frankly, it seemed complex and overwhelming. I didn’t know where to start. Carbon Neutral Indiana made it easy! It was very affordable and it only took about twenty minutes. This is important because life is complicated enough. Even when people are concerned about the climate -- and want to be good citizens -- it’s hard to know where to start. I’ve read a lot about carbon, even studied it professionally, and taken steps to reduce my carbon footprint. But Carbon Neutral Indiana has enabled me to become carbon neutral right now!" --Rae Schnapp, Ph.D.

"I realized the situation was even far worse than what I had thought. I realized how devastating it was going to be and how difficult it was going to be to get out of it… Others should consider becoming carbon neutral because the planet needs you! Becoming carbon neutral through Carbon Neutral Indiana was easy." --Greg Kempf, retired engineer

Integrity

"It’s smart because it’s putting a price tag on our lifestyles. It’s like putting your money where your mouth is. It’s not a random donation to a charity. It’s a specific investment tied to one’s specific carbon footprint. I know this will push me and encourage me to change my lifestyle and footprint going forward." --Alli Williams

Concrete

"There are a lot of people who want to help but don’t know how. I think becoming carbon neutral is one great way to help. Getting my household’s carbon footprint measured felt good. For me it was very easy. The person I spoke with from Carbon Neutral Indiana was clear at explaining all of the calculations." --Colleen Altschul

"A few days after we last spoke, I bought an electric car! Really excited to see how this changes my footprint. I know I don't drive a lot so I know it won't be monumental, but still!” --Anonymous

Responsibility

“Why are we carbon neutral? My wife, Mary, said it best the other day. She said, 'We're doing this for our grandchildren.' ... Taking responsibility for our carbon footprints, and becoming carbon neutral, is one way to do that.” --Gene Tempel, Ed.D., founder, Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy

Leadership

"The beauty of [this model] is that it provides a powerful framework for citizens to take control of that which they can control, their own impact on the environment... We are grateful to [this organization's] leadership…” --Jeff Marks & Chris Marks, Ph.D.

Political Will

"When you look at trends regarding the climate crisis, we’re driving civilization over a cliff… That’s why programs like [this]  are special. They provide a precious opportunity for motivating grass-roots action that makes a difference… Also, as more households and businesses become carbon neutral, [Carbon Neutral Ohio] is providing concrete evidence of citizen concern that politicians will notice.” --Chris Haynes, Ph.D.

"Daniel Poynter... spent 11 months in 2019 using his savings to study climate full time… From that process [he] and his friends 'distilled the strategy for Carbon Neutral Indiana.'"

Full story: Q&A Helping Indiana become carbon neutral

"For those Hoosiers who want to take action against climate change but just aren't sure how, there is a new Indianapolis-based organization here to help."

Full story: New nonprofit helps Hoosiers go carbon neutral

"[It] is inspiring to see local startups, such as Carbon Neutral Indiana, figuring out how to communicate with homeowners and small businesses about their carbon footprint." -Bill McKibben

Full article: The New Yorker

Discover your household's carbon footprint:

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:

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