My boyfriend has had it with my alarm. Granted, I wake up (at an un-Godly hour) to Dolly Parton signing "Stumbled out of bed and into the kitchen, pour myself a cup of ambition...." After a month or so of that every weekday morning, I can't blame the guy. I asked him what a better ringtone choice would be, and he answered "Something more peaceful."

So, I set out to find a new alarm clock. I settled on the Digital Zen Alarm Clock from Gaiam.com. It's small, apparently quite pleasant to wake up to, and uses two AA batteries, so it's pretty energy efficient, too.

I'm sharing this because upon checkout at Gaiam.com, I was asked if I wanted to "Go Zero" my transaction by paying an extra two dollars to offset the emissions associated with transporting my order to me.

Here's how it works:

Go Zero^sm to zero-out the impact of shipping your order.

100% of your donation goes directly to The Conservation Fund's program to plant trees.

In partnership with The Conservation Fund, Gaiam now makes it easy to completely offset the carbon dioxide emissions required to ship your Gaiam order. Just key in the number of trees you'd like to have planted. (No additional shipping will be charged.)

A donation of just $2 enables The Conservation Fund to plant one tree, which over its lifetime will absorb more than one ton of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere - enough to offset the emissions resulting from shipping a 200-pound package from Los Angeles to New York.

Your trees will be planted in special Gaiam Groves, lands that are reserved for trees planted through contributions by Gaiam and its customers. You'll receive a Go Zero^sm certificate with your order to thank you for taking action to make a difference.

Click the Go Zero^sm banner on your Shopping Cart page to read more about Go Zero, celebrity-and-everyday Heroes of Zero, and The Conservation Fund.

Pretty rad. I hope this catches on with other online retailers. Do you think this type of environmental balancing will be commonplace someday?

Labels: carbon offsets, shopping