Rileighs Outdoor Décor and the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore partner to offset carbon emissions

BALTIMORE, July 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Since 1876, folks have been visiting the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. Nearly 200 species roam the 135-plus acre zoo. The Maryland Zoo is the third oldest zoo in the country. Its mission is "to inspire people to engage in conservation and advocacy of wildlife."

The Maryland Zoo designed Zoo Lights display in 2020 with Rileighs Outdoor Decor, the leader in Commercial Christmas Decoration in the Northeast & Mid-Atlantic regions. Though the zoo and Rileighs took great care to design the project with energy conservation in mind, the event nonetheless left a carbon footprint. This provided the zoo and Rileighs a great opportunity to improve the environmental impact of the displays while helping the animals and the earth. Rileighs decided to measure the carbon footprint of the event, and then to fund equal-value mitigation projects in order to make the event carbon neutral.

To determine the light show's environmental impact, several categories of carbon emissions were calculated, including: power consumption during the event, the manufacturing process of the equipment, and the logistics of transportation.

Rileighs Outdoor Decor believes in a triple bottom line social enterprise model: Profits, people, environment. In that context, they hope to offer their customers an opportunity to offset the carbon emissions of their Holiday Light Shows. Rileighs works with Cool Effect, a nonprofit that opened in 2015. Cool Effect helps groups reduce and offset their carbon emissions by routing donations to organizations committed to projects that offset a given amount of carbon. Carbon emissions may be offset in many ways, from planting trees in the Amazon to providing more efficient appliances to Rwandans in need.

Rileighs contributed to Cool Effect through a donation to offset the carbon emissions from the Maryland Zoo show. Through this donation, Rileighs and the Maryland Zoo will in essence negate the environmental effects of the Zoo Lights.

Christmas lights are a beautiful way to put joy in people's hearts. Knowing that it is possible to celebrate the season while helping the environment only increases the reward for all.

SOURCE Rileighs Outdoor Decor

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