Comments on: Carbon Offsets: Angels Or Devils?

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:46:53 +0000

I used to think offsets were a viable concept. Now, I think not for two reasons.
One, verification is so expensive that it pushes us towards concentrated power when we should be focusing on distributed power. Distributed power would deploy faster and really, who should own power generation, an essential component of society? We should of course as evidenced by the manipulation California has gone through.
The second reason hits very close to home. Suppose one were to build and operate marine tourism vessels sustainably and offer a real alternative to cruise ships which will never be. The additional cost over a non sustainable trip might be $XXX.00 per week. But a piece of a “verified” tree planting project somewhere on the globe costs only $X.00. The tourist doesn’t see the difference, mostly because the cruise ship will claim sustainability also and make the case that the offset offsets.
So the net effect is that sustainable businesses have to compete directly with externalizing businesses.
Cap and trade? Maybe. But I tend to think that the way business has extended it’s competitive environment into government will further delay the change necessary. Maybe the courts can level the field.

By: KyNam do

KyNam do — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:03:08 +0000

And I haven’t read this book, which I will try to soon. I’ve been outside of this discussion for long enough that I need a refresher! Is there a way to edit old comments?

By: KyNam do

KyNam do — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:01:46 +0000

Granted, there are issues with cap-and-trade, but I feel like it’s on the right track

By: KyNam do

KyNam do — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:58:23 +0000

The pushing of food around on a plate addresses the impracticality of setting carbon caps across the board. Business operations are not created equal–some are more carbon dependent than others. A market cap and trade program, in my opinion, is a good solution. The overall levels of greenhouse emissions is capped while allowing for flexibility between different operations.

Another great benefit to this cap-and-trade system is allowing the market to set the prices of these emission permits. Otherwise they would be arbitrarily set by policy.

By: FR

FR — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:12:12 +0000

I’ve always wondered how all the “green gurus” on the speaker circuit are handling their frequent air travel. Would be good to hear directly from some of them here…