Friday
19Feb2010
Make Your Blog Carbon Neutral! For Free!
Fri, February 19, 2010 at 18:39
Or, Eating My Words?
Earlier today, RecycleBill got the following e-mail from Mark Derowitsch Public Relations Manager for the Arbor Day Foundation:
"Hello Mr. Jones,
I can confirm that the Make it Green program in Germany has indeed planted trees with the Arbor Day Foundation. The trees donated by Make it Green are being planted in a forest that is in need of trees.
The Foundation plants trees for all the right reasons. They provide wood for our homes and habitat for wildlife. They clean our air and protect our drinking water, help us conserve energy, absorbs carbon dioxide, sequesters carbon and releases pure oxygen. The Foundation does not calculate estimates for carbon sequestration.
Best,
Mark
Mark Derowitsch
Arbor Day Foundation"
So it would appear the concerns I outlined below are in-fact, wrong. I'm happy that I'm wrong so I'm adding a link to Make Your Blog Carbon Neutral! For Free! along with their banner you see below and in my left sidebar so that others can join them in the planting of trees long after this post becomes buried in the archives.
I'll also be adding these links to several other blogs I write, specifically, BloggingPoet.com and SalvageAmerica.us. My apologies to the folks at kaufda.de for doubting them in the first place and while I've no way of knowing if planting a tree will make my blog carbon neutral I am always happy to plant more trees.
Just one question: Why did the world have to wait 24 days to get confirmation?
Begin Original Post:
Originally posted: Tuesday, 26 January 2010 at 6:16 PM
Or Green Link Scam?
RecycleBill got the following e-mail from Christin of kaufda.de on 26 January, 2010:
"Dear Blogger,
just stumbled over your blog - nice work!
I am part of a young team in Germany, working for an initiative called "Make it green!". Our goal is to have a small part in reducing the carbon footprint by raising awareness of the severe environmental damage caused by carbon emissions. One of our activities is to raise awareness of the carbon emissions resulting from the use of the internet - specifically of blogs. We have therefore created "My blog is carbon neutral" buttons so bloggers can demonstrate that they care about the environment and the carbon footprint of their blogs. Our idea is to point the way and to convince the international community to contribute more to protect the environment.
Now how do we actually neutralize your blog's carbon footprint? We are planting trees in Plumas National Forest in Northern California for our project to neutralize the carbon footprint of blogs. Thousands of wildfires have burned in many national forests over the past ten years and 88.000 acres of Plumas' were destroyed by !two! fires in 2007. For replanting this area we need help from bloggers all over the world! For every participating blog, we plant a tree. One blog - one tree.
Why do we do this? We are a German based company called kaufDA, which provides advertising brochures of local stores online to help consumers search for specific products and find good deals in their neighborhood. This reduces the amount of brochures printed and so the project helps the environment by reducing unnecessary paper in mailboxes. An American on average receives 41 pounds of junk mail per year. This has the same carbon footprint as burning six gallons of gasoline.
For more details and to find out how you can participate please go to http://www.kaufda.de/umwelt/co2-neutral/my-blog-is-carbon-neutral/
We'd be glad to plant your tree! Help us and show that you care! Every tree counts!
Best wishes from Germany,
Christin "Make it green!"- Team"
So I replied with the following:
"Looks like a scam to get backlinks... Tell me more?"
But I didn't stop there. I located the website for the Plumas National Forest and e-mailed them a copy of the e-mail that was sent to me.
I'm still waiting for replies from the US Forest Service and Kaufda.de but if this is what I think it is then it's the lowest link bait scheme I've ever seen. I'll keep our readers posted.
Update: 28 Jan. 10 6:30 am EST AsI have yet to hear back from the National Forest Service or kaufDA I decided to send the following e-mail to Mark Derowitsch, Public Relations Manager, National Arbor Day Foundation:
"Mr. Derowitsch,
Can you confirm or deny the following links?
http://recyclebills.squarespace.com/recycleblog/make -your-blog-carbon-neutral-for-free.html
http://www.kaufda.de/umwelt/co2-neutral/my-blog-is-carbon-neutral/"
I'm awaiting responses from the National Forest Service, kaufDA and the National Arbor Day Foundation and will again update this post when I learn more.
Update: 28th Jan 2010 5:00 pm EST Mark Derowitsch of the National Arbor Day Foubdation replied earlier today with the following e-mail:
"Mr. Jones,
We have not done business, and are not familiar, with this outfit from Germany.
I can tell you that the Arbor Day Foundation plants trees in the Plumas for all the right reasons -- to help restore ecosystems, to clean the air and to clean the water.
If you have any more questions, please let me know.
Best,
Mark"
It now appears that kaufda.de is greenwashing in hopes of gaining inbound links to their website in the hope they will be more highly ranked in search engines thus increasing their website's page views and advertising rates. I don't know how many Germans might ever read this post but if I were a German consumer I would be contacting kaufda.de's advertisers and warning them of what appears to be a greenwashing scam.
As of this latest reposting I've yet to hear back from kaufda.de or the National Forest Service.
Update: 29th January 10 6:30 pm EST. Today I received the following reply from Christin of kaufda.de:
"Dear Billy,
before we start our initiative in US, we contacted Arbor Day Foundation for a cooperation. Mr. Mark Derowitsch was not our contact person. For more information please contact or refer to Mr. Paul Knopp from Arbor Day Foundation.
PS: We were able to plant almost 500 trees in Germany! The trees are planted in "Oberharz Rübeland" by "Iplantatree". Our partner in Germany for the "My blog is carbon neutral" initiative. For more details please visit: http://www.kaufda.de/umwelt/co2-neutral/teilnehmerliste-2/
Regards,
Christin"
So I sent Christin's reply to Mark Derowitsch of the Arbor Day Foundation with the following request:
"Mark, I just got the following from the German outfit:
"Dear Billy,
before we start our initiative in US, we contacted Arbor Day Foundation for a cooperation. Mr. Mark Derowitsch was not our contactperson. For more information please contact or refer to Mr. Paul Knopp from Arbor Day Foundation."
Can you verify?
Thanks -Billy"
I've yet to hear from the National Forest Service and don't expect to get another reply from Mr. Derowitsch before Monday as it is now Friday night. I'd like to believe that Christin is telling me the truth but without more information from the Arbor Day Foundation, The US Forest Service or the Plumas National Forest there's little more I can do but wait. So while I wait I've sent the following e-mail to iplantatree.org:
"Can you verify that iplantatree.org has worked with http://www.kaufda.de to plant trees in Germany or anywhere else. I would like to post your answer to the following thread:
http://recyclebills.squarespace.com/recycleblog/make-your-blog-carbon-neutral-for-free.html.
Thank you -Billy Jones"
Update: 29th January 10, 7:30 pm EST. Just heard back from Michael Bahr of iplantatree.org with the following reply:
"Hey Bill,
Yes I can verify that. We have planted 750 trees for Kaufda.de in an mountaneous Area called Harz. You can See these trees on http://www.iplantatree.org/projects/status.html?projectId=3
Hey, of course they used this for Link Building but we think they guys are cool and their Business is something worth supporting.
Best regards
Michael"
I'm still awaiting more replies from the Arbor Day Foundation and the US Forest Service and should those replies be as favorable as that of Michael Bahr then I'll happily have them plant a tree on behalf of our RecycleBills.com Llc Local Recycler Search Engine
Update: 4 February 2010 7:20 pm EST. Still no responses from the US Forest Service, Plumas National Forest or the Arbor Day Foundation to support the claims of kaufDA. I'm leaning more towards believing this is a scam each and every day.
Update: 9 February 2010 7:40 am EST. Again, still no responses from the US Forest Service, Plumas National Forest or the Arbor Day Foundation to support the claims of kaufDA. I would think that if kaufDA's claims were true then kaufDA would be pushing hard to get someone to verify their claims. To date only a handful of bloggers have fell for this apparent scam and most have removed their original posts altogether. Only one still has the post live and to date that blogger refuses to publish my comments. My apologies to any who might have been taken in, it's not your fault. As one blogger wrote me in a private e-mail, "I just like trees."
If I were able to speak German I would contact German law enforcement and report Kaufda.de for possible fraud. Maybe one of our readers is versed in German.
Update: 12 February 2010 It seems I've found yet another green blogger who has fallen for this apparent scam. To date, no one from the Arbor Day Foundation, US Forest Service or the Plumas National Forest has contacted us to verify the claims made by Kaufda.de. I've wondered if iplantatree.org and Kaufda.de might really be one in the same?
Remember: As I stated previously, "My apologies to any who might have been taken in, it's not your fault."
But I did find this tweet by AltCon to be rather interesting. So I got my friend, Veggie Head Stalker to retweeted it. It's been 2 weeks and no one has verified their claims-- why?
Earlier today, RecycleBill got the following e-mail from Mark Derowitsch Public Relations Manager for the Arbor Day Foundation:
"Hello Mr. Jones,
I can confirm that the Make it Green program in Germany has indeed planted trees with the Arbor Day Foundation. The trees donated by Make it Green are being planted in a forest that is in need of trees.
The Foundation plants trees for all the right reasons. They provide wood for our homes and habitat for wildlife. They clean our air and protect our drinking water, help us conserve energy, absorbs carbon dioxide, sequesters carbon and releases pure oxygen. The Foundation does not calculate estimates for carbon sequestration.
Best,
Mark
Mark Derowitsch
Arbor Day Foundation"
So it would appear the concerns I outlined below are in-fact, wrong. I'm happy that I'm wrong so I'm adding a link to Make Your Blog Carbon Neutral! For Free! along with their banner you see below and in my left sidebar so that others can join them in the planting of trees long after this post becomes buried in the archives.
I'll also be adding these links to several other blogs I write, specifically, BloggingPoet.com and SalvageAmerica.us. My apologies to the folks at kaufda.de for doubting them in the first place and while I've no way of knowing if planting a tree will make my blog carbon neutral I am always happy to plant more trees.
Just one question: Why did the world have to wait 24 days to get confirmation?
Begin Original Post:
Originally posted: Tuesday, 26 January 2010 at 6:16 PM
Or Green Link Scam?
RecycleBill got the following e-mail from Christin of kaufda.de on 26 January, 2010:
"Dear Blogger,
just stumbled over your blog - nice work!
I am part of a young team in Germany, working for an initiative called "Make it green!". Our goal is to have a small part in reducing the carbon footprint by raising awareness of the severe environmental damage caused by carbon emissions. One of our activities is to raise awareness of the carbon emissions resulting from the use of the internet - specifically of blogs. We have therefore created "My blog is carbon neutral" buttons so bloggers can demonstrate that they care about the environment and the carbon footprint of their blogs. Our idea is to point the way and to convince the international community to contribute more to protect the environment.
Now how do we actually neutralize your blog's carbon footprint? We are planting trees in Plumas National Forest in Northern California for our project to neutralize the carbon footprint of blogs. Thousands of wildfires have burned in many national forests over the past ten years and 88.000 acres of Plumas' were destroyed by !two! fires in 2007. For replanting this area we need help from bloggers all over the world! For every participating blog, we plant a tree. One blog - one tree.
Why do we do this? We are a German based company called kaufDA, which provides advertising brochures of local stores online to help consumers search for specific products and find good deals in their neighborhood. This reduces the amount of brochures printed and so the project helps the environment by reducing unnecessary paper in mailboxes. An American on average receives 41 pounds of junk mail per year. This has the same carbon footprint as burning six gallons of gasoline.
For more details and to find out how you can participate please go to http://www.kaufda.de/umwelt/co2-neutral/my-blog-is-carbon-neutral/
We'd be glad to plant your tree! Help us and show that you care! Every tree counts!
Best wishes from Germany,
Christin "Make it green!"- Team"
So I replied with the following:
"Looks like a scam to get backlinks... Tell me more?"
But I didn't stop there. I located the website for the Plumas National Forest and e-mailed them a copy of the e-mail that was sent to me.
I'm still waiting for replies from the US Forest Service and Kaufda.de but if this is what I think it is then it's the lowest link bait scheme I've ever seen. I'll keep our readers posted.
Update: 28 Jan. 10 6:30 am EST AsI have yet to hear back from the National Forest Service or kaufDA I decided to send the following e-mail to Mark Derowitsch, Public Relations Manager, National Arbor Day Foundation:
"Mr. Derowitsch,
Can you confirm or deny the following links?
http://recyclebills.squarespace.com/recycleblog/make -your-blog-carbon-neutral-for-free.html
http://www.kaufda.de/umwelt/co2-neutral/my-blog-is-carbon-neutral/"
I'm awaiting responses from the National Forest Service, kaufDA and the National Arbor Day Foundation and will again update this post when I learn more.
Update: 28th Jan 2010 5:00 pm EST Mark Derowitsch of the National Arbor Day Foubdation replied earlier today with the following e-mail:
"Mr. Jones,
We have not done business, and are not familiar, with this outfit from Germany.
I can tell you that the Arbor Day Foundation plants trees in the Plumas for all the right reasons -- to help restore ecosystems, to clean the air and to clean the water.
If you have any more questions, please let me know.
Best,
Mark"
It now appears that kaufda.de is greenwashing in hopes of gaining inbound links to their website in the hope they will be more highly ranked in search engines thus increasing their website's page views and advertising rates. I don't know how many Germans might ever read this post but if I were a German consumer I would be contacting kaufda.de's advertisers and warning them of what appears to be a greenwashing scam.
As of this latest reposting I've yet to hear back from kaufda.de or the National Forest Service.
Update: 29th January 10 6:30 pm EST. Today I received the following reply from Christin of kaufda.de:
"Dear Billy,
before we start our initiative in US, we contacted Arbor Day Foundation for a cooperation. Mr. Mark Derowitsch was not our contact person. For more information please contact or refer to Mr. Paul Knopp from Arbor Day Foundation.
PS: We were able to plant almost 500 trees in Germany! The trees are planted in "Oberharz Rübeland" by "Iplantatree". Our partner in Germany for the "My blog is carbon neutral" initiative. For more details please visit: http://www.kaufda.de/umwelt/co2-neutral/teilnehmerliste-2/
Regards,
Christin"
So I sent Christin's reply to Mark Derowitsch of the Arbor Day Foundation with the following request:
"Mark, I just got the following from the German outfit:
"Dear Billy,
before we start our initiative in US, we contacted Arbor Day Foundation for a cooperation. Mr. Mark Derowitsch was not our contactperson. For more information please contact or refer to Mr. Paul Knopp from Arbor Day Foundation."
Can you verify?
Thanks -Billy"
I've yet to hear from the National Forest Service and don't expect to get another reply from Mr. Derowitsch before Monday as it is now Friday night. I'd like to believe that Christin is telling me the truth but without more information from the Arbor Day Foundation, The US Forest Service or the Plumas National Forest there's little more I can do but wait. So while I wait I've sent the following e-mail to iplantatree.org:
"Can you verify that iplantatree.org has worked with http://www.kaufda.de to plant trees in Germany or anywhere else. I would like to post your answer to the following thread:
http://recyclebills.squarespace.com/recycleblog/make-your-blog-carbon-neutral-for-free.html.
Thank you -Billy Jones"
Update: 29th January 10, 7:30 pm EST. Just heard back from Michael Bahr of iplantatree.org with the following reply:
"Hey Bill,
Yes I can verify that. We have planted 750 trees for Kaufda.de in an mountaneous Area called Harz. You can See these trees on http://www.iplantatree.org/projects/status.html?projectId=3
Hey, of course they used this for Link Building but we think they guys are cool and their Business is something worth supporting.
Best regards
Michael"
I'm still awaiting more replies from the Arbor Day Foundation and the US Forest Service and should those replies be as favorable as that of Michael Bahr then I'll happily have them plant a tree on behalf of our RecycleBills.com Llc Local Recycler Search Engine
Update: 4 February 2010 7:20 pm EST. Still no responses from the US Forest Service, Plumas National Forest or the Arbor Day Foundation to support the claims of kaufDA. I'm leaning more towards believing this is a scam each and every day.
Update: 9 February 2010 7:40 am EST. Again, still no responses from the US Forest Service, Plumas National Forest or the Arbor Day Foundation to support the claims of kaufDA. I would think that if kaufDA's claims were true then kaufDA would be pushing hard to get someone to verify their claims. To date only a handful of bloggers have fell for this apparent scam and most have removed their original posts altogether. Only one still has the post live and to date that blogger refuses to publish my comments. My apologies to any who might have been taken in, it's not your fault. As one blogger wrote me in a private e-mail, "I just like trees."
If I were able to speak German I would contact German law enforcement and report Kaufda.de for possible fraud. Maybe one of our readers is versed in German.
Update: 12 February 2010 It seems I've found yet another green blogger who has fallen for this apparent scam. To date, no one from the Arbor Day Foundation, US Forest Service or the Plumas National Forest has contacted us to verify the claims made by Kaufda.de. I've wondered if iplantatree.org and Kaufda.de might really be one in the same?
Remember: As I stated previously, "My apologies to any who might have been taken in, it's not your fault."
But I did find this tweet by AltCon to be rather interesting. So I got my friend, Veggie Head Stalker to retweeted it. It's been 2 weeks and no one has verified their claims-- why?
View Printer Friendly Version
Email Article to Friend
Reader Comments (6)
I've received the same mail and looking for further information, I 've found your blog :) So, what do you think ? real or fake ?
Anne, Currently I'm leaning towards fake but should the Forest Service or the Arbor Day Foundation come forward with more info I'll be happy to let the world know. As of this instant I have yet to get any reply from the Forest Service and I'm still awaiting a second reply from the Arbor Day Foundation. I want to believe this is true but so far I've had little proof.
Thanks for doing the research - I questioned this when I first received the email, also.
Just a note:After all is said and done it appears the promotion is true.
Thank you for taking the time to research this and post about it. Your efforts have made me feel safe about posting this on my own blog. Great work and many thanks.
Thank you, Michelle.