Carbon Offsetting - Saving the Planet or your Conscience |
Kentish Flats seen from top of North Downs near Lenham. Turbines are about 30 miles away - see map
Headlines
In Defense of Carbon OFFSETsSay what you will about carbon OFFSETs -- they went from being a cool new idea to an object of derision in the blink of an eye -- there's no doubt that they are proliferating, as big companies and small ride the green wave.
Carbon OFFSETs deliver where it matters
The backlash against carbon OFFSETting could whip away funds from some ground-breaking projects in Asia and Africa, says Martin Wright. In this week's Green Room, he argues that criticism of projects which allow people to OFFSET their emissions fails to look at the bigger picture.
MPs support carbon OFFSET schemes
People should be encouraged and offered help to use schemes that OFFSET their carbon emissions, MPs have said.
Forests and the European Union Resource Network
Greenest host, a US based web ISP that runs its server's on Solar Electric - not carbon offsets!
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Carbon offsetting, a point of view : Suppose I go on a diet on behalf of both of us, our average weight will go down. now I will agree that you can claim all the weight loss, after all our average weight did go down didn't it. Its nonesense isn't it! In 100 years time, the major seaports are underwater, mass movements of people, and all the other bad stuff. Will they be saying "I really wish people had bought more carbon offsets". I doubt it, I expect that it will be looked back on in the same way we look at papal indulgencies - we need a latter day Martin Luther (he was the brave soul who took on the Catholic Church) Sadly too many people are jumping on the bandwagon, both to sell these offsets and claim they are green and carbon neutral through buying them. Why does the Government support carbon offsets? My guess is that it is solely to allow the members of the Government to continue to jet around the world without having to consider the consequences either personally or politically of flying. They are simply able to state that they have bought carbon offsets and all is well. Were they to publicly deny the effectivness of carbon offsets, they would have to look very carefully at how to justify flights and other travel. With carbon offsets, the Government can make any project or activity 'carbon neutral' at a stroke and for a very low cost. But its just words... Simon Mallett - interview with the BBC's inside money. You should note that this page was written by me after I had completed the 'inside money' programme with the bbc. Prior to the programme I knew little about carbon offsets, aiming to go into the subject with an open mind. Some links to interesting articles Forest fever : The year is 2010. Marcelo Calazans and Renata Valentim explore what it might look like for two very different Brazilians in the new carbon economy. A scary look into the future of carbon offsets where the 1st world's dominance forces the third world poor into further poverty. The Carbon Offset Con : Carbon offsetting is all the rage at the moment. However a new report from Climate Trade Watch, which is affiliated to the Transnational Institute, accuses carbon offset companies of using the same sort of ‘future value accounting’ that caused the collapse of energy giant Enron. Three Go Digging for the Heart of the Carbon Neutral Con on 21.2.07: Three activists from London Rising Tide today barricaded themselves inside the London headquarters of the Carbon Neutral Company. The protest took place to high-light the damage that offset companies are doing in promoting climate complacency in the general public. 10 things you should know about tree 'offsets' An article by Jutta Kill of European environmental group FERN (Forests and the European Union Resource Network) Sinkswatch: The focus of SinksWatch is on tree plantation carbon sinks projects, particularly in areas where land tenure and land use rights are in dispute.
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