Atlantica - 01.05.2007, Page 26

Each issue, Atlantica likes to tickle your taste buds with a few global
tidbits on a particular food – or, in this case, drink. To warm
the cockles on a chilly winter’s night, here are our picks
for some cocktails with a twist. Cheers!
in the tropics has a positive effect on reducing global
warming. The laboratory’s further research indicates,
however, that above 20 degrees latitude, the forests’
warming influence more or less negates the cooling
caused by carbon absorption.
Above 50 degrees, where snow often reflects the
sun’s heat back into space and where tree growth
is slower, planting forests could actually warm the
earth.
Environmentalists maintain that the only way to
reduce climate change is to rethink our relationship
with fossil fuels – and some accuse carbon offsetting of
being a way to remove guilt and therefore increasing
potential demand for polluting fuels. “When one
says that, it’s very hard not to sound like a real killjoy
or hair shirt person, but actually it is just about
ethics and equity,” says Anne Miller, Senior Lecturer
in Environmental Sciences at the UK’s University of
Gloucestershire.
So is carbon offsetting worth it? How much does
it cost? How can you get involved? And should you
even bother? The answers are: sometimes, not much,
easily and yes.
There are claims that some offsetting companies
are not entirely honest and that sometimes donations
end up paying for projects that would have happened
anyway – but there are also well-respected, well-
intentioned non-profit schemes out there. Groups
like San Francisco’s Center for Resource Solutions
(resource-solutions.org) and British-based Climate
Group (theclimategroup.org) are working to create
meaningful certification standards for the industry.
The evidence for tree planting as a means of
cutting global warming may be increasingly patchy,
but responsible reforestation also has benefits for
biodiversity and species conservation. And while it
may be the biggest tool in use today, carbon offset
companies also use their money to properly manage
existing forests, to fund clean energy projects and to
invest in pollution control.
Carbon offsetting is surprisingly cheap too. The
travel booking website Travelocity (travelocity.com)
has recently introduced the option to donate money
to The Conservation Fund’s Go Zero campaign when
you pay for your travel plans. They recommend
donating just USD 10 for a return air trip, one night in
a hotel and car rental for one person.
Speaking of car rental, so far none of the major
rental companies offer their customers the chance to
offset their carbon (or if they do, they’re not making
much of a song and dance about it). However, the
British website carrentals.co.uk claims to be a carbon
neutral company and they invite you to make your
rental carbon neutral, too, for just USD .50 per day.
If the average rental car travels 145 kilometers a day
and emits 0.027 tons of carbon dioxide, then that
price works out slightly short of USD 20 per ton of
carbon dioxide.
If you don’t u either of those websites, you can
still get involved. You can offset the carbon from this
very flight through the websites of many organizations,
including The Conservation Fund (conservationfund.
org), The Carbon Neutral Company (carbonneutral.
com) and Carbon Footprint (carbonfootprint.com).
As an example, Icelandair flights from London to
Reykjavík and on to Baltimore are 7,440 kilometers,
which is approximately 0.88 tons of carbon dioxide
emissions per passenger. The cost to offset? Roughly
USD 9.
You can offset your entire annual carbon for
between USD 50 and 100 (depending on your lifestyle,
of course).
These prices may be a bit too good to be true
though. “If USD 10 is an appropriate amount, it is
way too cheap. I would suggest looking at the costs
to livelihoods and homes in low-lying areas around
the world,” says Anne Miller. “The calculated costs
may allow for some re-planting or energy recovery
activities to be undertaken elsewhere, which in
themselves are good things, but it doesn’t fully mop
up the impacts on the poor, globally.”
To answer the question, ‘should you even bother?’
the answer is an unequivocal yes. As long as you
choose a company that guarantees your money will
be spent wisely, the current recommended prices are
low enough to make it worth at least giving it a go.
Carbon offsetting is far from perfect, but it has to be
better than doing nothing at all.
Offsetting became a celebrity fashion statement
several years ago, and Al Gore uses it to defend his
heavy travel schedule touring the globe promoting
his environmental documentary, An Inconvenient
Truth. As the idea gains traction among the rest of us,
we just have to be careful not to hide behind it as an
excuse for consuming more and more.
British environmentalist George Monbiot has
described carbon-offsetting schemes as the modern
day equivalent of purchasing indulgences. Just as
the rich could purchase forgiveness for their sins in
medieval times, we can now purchase meaningless
forgiveness for our pollution.
In the words of all good dieting commercials:
‘carbon offsetting should be used only as part of a
balanced diet of environmentalism – willpower is still
required’. a