It’s the Dark Ages 2.0 and we are buying indulgences to get to heaven, again. Only this time, instead of getting a piece of paper issued by the pope guaranteeing entry through the pearly gates, we buy an enviro halo in the form of “Carbon Offsets.” The benighted ways we are buying our way out of involve spewing copious amounts of Co2 into the stratosphere. We then ease our guilt, buy our green halo as it were, by buying CO2 offsets to atone for our energy gluttonous speed addiction.
People, get over it! You can’t be green and fly, fly, fly! The physics — namely, the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics — just won’t permit it. (For more on this, I refer again to Monbiot’s article on the energy dynamics of flying.)
I do very much appreciate the mocking tenor of the NYT article (first link) toward these green-indulgences, e.g.,
Offsets…are distracting people from making more significant behavioral changes, like flying less.
Like flying less! How dare they suggest such an outrage against gluttonous consumerism!
And to illustrate the magnitude of the problem, and how it isn’t at all reflected in the cost of the green indulgences,
…offsetting the emissions of a flight from London to New York would probably require an extra fee of $200 to $300, far above what any airline is now charging.
And some experts say that emissions from airline travel are simply so large that it may be impossible to offset them.
And the kicker,
“Buying offsets won’t solve the problem because flying around the way we do is simply unsustainable,” said Ms. Kollmuss, who has researched airline offsets.
And the solution,
Mr. Dickenson of the nonprofit Carbon Disclosure Project said that rather than buying offsets he had sharply scaled back on flying and was instead taking trains or conducting meetings by phone or teleconference. He said that if he owned an airline, he would now be diversifying into other modes of transport.
Exactly.
Referring to the recent purchase of a railroad by the investor Warren Buffett, he said, “What does it tell you that the world’s most successful investor is investing in trains?”
When that deal was announced, I thought, that’s a long-range energy play pure & simple. Sure there is coal hauling involved, short term. But long term, even if coal gets largely phased out — ok, especially if coal gets phased out — the efficiencies of trains will become more & more obvious; i.e., profitable. At 8X the efficiency of OTR trucking, and probably 16X the efficiency of flying, rail will be the transportation of an energy constrained, greener future.
Back to offsets…It should tell us something regarding the ultimate intention of these offset companies when they are bought by rapacious banks:
Responsible Travel had bought its offsets through one of the best-known offset companies, ClimateCare, which was purchased last year by JP Morgan.
Responsible Travel no longer buys carbon offsets.
Responsible move.