The Atlanta community of Virginia-Highland has apparently become the first carbon-neutral 'zone' in America.

How did they do it? A co-owner of a local green retailer, Eco-Bella, was approached by an Atlanta-based carbon off-setting company, Verus Carbon Neutral. Versus audited Eco-Bella and found the organic retailer responsible for 22 metric tons of CO2 a year. Eco-Bella's co-owner, Antje Kingma, paid Verus to offset the emissions; eco peace of mind was only $87 for the first year.

Sharing the idea with her neighbors was the next step. Her landlord offered to pay for 18 audits for each of his business tenants in the area. The only catch? They were required to pay for the offset which ended up ranging from $10 for a candy shop to $600 for a local steakhouse. The offset money is then used by Versus on the Chicago Climate Exchange to support projects like managing carbon-removing forests in Georgia. Despite the additional cost during difficult economic times, each of the businesses agreed.

Opponents of carbon offsets plans say that these schemes don't solve the original problem of producing too much CO2. Instead, they allow business to pay their way out of eco-guilt. That's partly true, but it's nice to see a neighborhood get together and decide to do something about global warming. The heightened awareness of carbon emissions has to be a useful thing. Hurray for local solutions to global problems!