VitalAccurateThinking

"Carbon Neutrality"

Ever since the Al Gore's movie _An Inconvenient Truth_ opened, there has been a lot of rhetoric flowing regarding living a "carbon neutral" lifestyle. In fact, Al Gore makes repeated claims that Tipper and he live such a lifestyle.

He said he was "carbon neutral" himself and he tried to offset any plane flight or car journey by "purchasing verifiable reductions in CO2 elsewhere".

So, in other words, he takes private jets, rides in SUV motorcades, and
probably maintains several homes, and writes a check to offset those emissions.

First of all, I would like to see the documentation on this. Al Gore flies all around the country on private jets which equate to a hell-of-a lot of emissions. I can only imagine the size of the check written for each NY to LA private plane trip. But I do not want to imagine it, I want to see and scrutinize the calculations.

At the same time, I wonder if writing a check for excessive C02 emissions is really solving the problem. One could theoretically trace back the source of that money to CO2 emissions so that the overall C02 generation (income generation plus life style choices) are still excessive.

For instance, I work in the chemical industry for which all of my income originates. I also drive a SUV that gets 16 MPG. Taking the Al Gore approach, I should take income from my chemical industry job which belches out an undetermined amount of C02 (and other) emissions and write a check so someone can plant trees to offset my SUV and house size. Those trees paid for by my chemical industry employer really do not result in a carbon neutral lifestyle for me as a whole individual.

Then again, one could also question the amount of CO2 generated by planting those trees. I mean, someone has to grow the trees which uses fertilizer, pickup trucks, etc, and then there is transportation to the site where they are planted, etc.

Overall, I think Al Gore would have a better chance of persuading me to adopt his point of view if he flew commercial jets and was transported in hybrid cars so that his overall carbon footprint was reduced. To me, it is fake to claim carbon neutrality via a check book rather than reduce actual emissions.

posted by Jim VAT @ 10:29 AM