Offset your car’s pollution
For a couple of years now, we’ve been buying carbon-offsets for our car through Greenfleet. Each year we pay for them to plant 17 native trees in areas that used to be forested. The trees “offset” the carbon-dioxide emissions put out by our car, by using up carbon dioxide in their process of transpiration. This isn’t the most precise way to do things, because there are issues with sorting out the exact lifespan of the trees, variations in how much we drive, and so on. But it’s close enough, and since the trees also help with the problems of soil salinity, soil erosion, and provide habitat for native animals, we felt it was a worthwhile project to contribute to - there’s more to the environment than just global warming.
Greenfleet is available in most Aussie states, and you can either sign up for the standard car amount (which is what we did, because we’re kinda lazy that way), or use their emissions calculator to work out precisely how many GHG-emissions you’re contributing from your car, home or plane trips. Greenfleet is currently working to become compliant with the standards set out for offset programs in the Kyoto protocol and has applied for the federal government’s Greenhouse Friendly certification.
Other offset programs are available in Australia - some use tree-planting, some use renewable energy sources: