Things That Make You Go Green

Since realizing that I am (almost) singlehandedly causing global warming, I have been looking for a way to reduce my carbon output. Since most of my output is from flights, flying less is an obvious choice. But since I need to fly for work, it’s not that easy. What else can I do? Carbon offsets!

Carbon offsets are great. You pay a company like Terrapass a bit of money, and they make you feel better by using that money on projects that either

• reduce the amount of carbon that someone else generates, or
• remove CO2 from the atmosphere by doing things like planting trees.

Wikipedia has a great writeup about them. If you want to know more, then check it out.

But do they work? Certainly in principle they’re great. But they’re not all created equal. The Tufts Climate Initiative has some great resources on offsets, including a writeup called Flying Green - How To Protect the Climate and Travel Responsibly which talks about how

• Different offset organizations are better than others.
• Offsets that focus on reducing emissions are better than those which focus on using trees to soak up carbon. (because “we know little about how forests store carbon in the long run, especially with the predicted climatic changes.”)

They also have recommendations of what offset companies are the best to work with.

My overall takeaway from all this is that carbon offsets are better than nothing, but they aren’t a cure-all. You’re going to still need to think about reducing your carbon output.

Is my folksy colloquial style not compelling enough for you? Well according to a report called, The Carbon Myth, “offsets place disproportionate emphasis on individual lifestyles and carbon footprints, distracting attention from the wider, systemic changes and collective political action that needs to be taken to tackle climate change.” More to come.