EARTH University Touts Carbon Neutrality

Earth University, in the Caribbean-slope town of Guácimo, declared itself carbon neutral in a recent statement that included a detailed assessment of the university’s carbon “budget.”

The university emits 1,154 tons of carbon dioxide each year, but thanks to its efforts to reforest and recuperate secondary forests on its properties, the campus absorbs as much as 16,324 tons a year.

“The figures show that we not only balance our carbon, we surpass it,” said Daniel Sherrard, of the university, in the statement.

The university promotes the use of alternative energy sources, helps reforest land adjacent to its campus, and encourages the use of electric cars and bicycles.

EARTH University is a private, nonprofit institution founded in 1990 and dedicated to education, protection and research in the area of tropical agriculture.

The university’s announcement is part of a trend toward carbon-neutrality in the country. Last month, President Oscar Arias announced his intentions to make Costa Rica the world’s first carbon neutral country (TT,May 18).