Carbon Off-Setting

[Mike]

Hiya

Lizzie mentioned this website this morning Carbon Offsetting which will allow you to calculate how much you need to donate to offset your air miles. I know we are not traveling with lots of air miles but it is still very interesting.

[Mike]

Interestingly to offset our honeymoon to Cuba we need to donate ?30.99 to plant tree's.

[johnriley1uk]

I thought forests were now considered to add to global warming....

[Mike]

That depends. Rotting timber adds to the carbon dioxide being released. A well managed forest should not be releasing carbon dioxide as the tree's felled are utilised in building and other ways. At least that is what I understand to be the most recent theory.

[Fez]

doesn't this seem to be like trying to stopper a sliced artery with a plaster? nice idea but its impact on a massive global problem will be insignificant because it does nothing to counter act the main causes. decades of industial pollution are not going to be overturned by planting a few trees.

[Mike]

Its better than watching them bleed to death without doing anything at all.

[Fez]

i didn't say do nothing at all - airlines need to be taxed on fuel heavily, 4x4s should be priced off the road and that's just to start with

[mr_e]

That website's really cool, it's interesting how they cost it, especially that the carbon offsets would only cost about ?100-120 for someone who does really high mileage in a car (the salespersons amongst us).

Having said that, I'm not entirely sure that the whole concept is morally sound. It's essentially taking advantage of exchange rates to pay people in developing countries to clear up after your mess, which I believe is theft of labour (I'm still reasoning that one out). Plus it doesn't encourage direct responsibilty for your own actions: no-one is changing their behaviours as a result of this, except giving away a little money, when it's our collective behaviour that is the entire cause of the problem.

[johnriley1uk]

airlines need to be taxed on fuel heavily, 4x4s should be priced off the road and that's just to start with

Think about what this means - you are asking the government to tax you. They will be delighted. Will it make a difference to the environment? I doubt it, but it will be a nice little earner to use when waging new wars.

So tell me I'm being too cynical and that the government really cares about the planet.

[Fez]

the government don't care because the environment has always been a tacked on policy to any manifesto and will never be what directly gets a party into power. for them to stay in control problems with a tangiable causes and resolutions are always going to be the main consideration, and not hypethetical natural disasters because don't forget a lot of people refuse to believe climate change is happening or stands to be an earth-shattering dilemma moving closer all the time. added to the fact all governments are like small children and want to be praised for their own efforts and no one else's, which makes serious attempts at dealing with pollution an after thought because it is a global threat without an end or quick fix solution, and needs to be handled by the many not the few. and even if the next government fell on the problem with zeal, the wider public would cry foul for being taxed to the nines because ordinary people have to deal with ordinary problems, and employment/health/education will always matter more than something a lot of them simply don't understand.

as for carbon-trading, its a bullshit way for people to feel good about themselves for doing next to nothing when it has no chance of making a difference. think about this logically - how many billions of trees is it gonna take to undo centuries of pollution since the industrial revolution and where the hell are you going to put all of them? it'll help sure, but putting it across as the savior of all environmental ills is irreponsible and misleading.

[Mike]

I don't think that they are putting it forward as a all singing all dancing solution to a problem. I think the idea of little bits helping are doing a world of good. If you get enough little things going right the bigger changes are less work.

All the great events are shaped on the small actions and insignificant seeming events. They build like an avalanche to create the large scale event. I don't see what the problem with small efforts being made to make the world a slightly cleaner and better place.

I know it seems like a big thing to tackle at the moment but little efforts will make a big difference in the end. For example Architects such as I are trying to veer away from using highly polluting toxic construction for example specifying water based preservatives not highly toxic ones. In itself they are not going to save the world but it makes a few lives better even if only those applying the preservative! :D

[johnriley1uk]

Is this process of little things the same as the concept of Fractals?

No doubt you are familiar with that in the context of Architecture, but it also applies to Photography as well.

[Mike]

Indeed I am aware of Fractals. . . . . I think that is dead right!

[mr_e]

Fractals, or fractal growth, is a nice way to visualise it. Although to be strictly accurate, you should see the environmental situation as two competing fractals: the little efforts won't matter if not enough people make them (represented by the "negative" fractal out-growing the "positive" fractal, if you will).

[Mike]

Are you suggesting that I should not be as environmentally friendly because there is a possibility that everyone else will not bother?

If everyone thinks like that then nothing will change. If we all decide to do the best we can then I may just work.