sufac.com

What if you did some research to find out what trees consume the most carbon dioxide. Then find out where they are in the world with good property rights. Then look at the cheapest place in the world that has these trees and good property rights. Create a matrix and all of a sudden you have the cheapest way to purchase earth saving trees.

Then you buy some, you’d need enough to buy a large chunk and then you feel great. You’ve saved all this land. You could just retire the land, give it away to a park and you’ve done a great thing. But what if you sold it to others??? What if you created a marketplace where people can buy 1 acre for x or 1 tree for x and allow people to resell it on the street (on condition it will be retired or donated under their name to a park).

So say you sell an acre for $1,000 and someone buys it then they could go sell the 1,000 pieces of the acre for $2/piece. They’ve made money, the person who bought the $2 worth of land feels good. And to make them feel better they get their name on the website with a map of where the land they retired is and a total they’ve retired since they started saving the world.

Could this work? I have no idea, but I’m surprised I can’t find a place that I can send money and not buy trees (because they can be cut down), but buy little pieces of land that I can retire so they can keep eating CO2 for the rest of their lives.

I have no idea about the tax consequences, but it’s just crazy enough to work. Let me know what you think and if you know of a place where you can retire land let me know.

-Craig Sharkton