I’ve recently registered to
join the upcoming People’s Climate March in New York on Sept. 21, both
as a supporter of climate action and as a footloose and free-range
correspondent for Open Salon (no expenses paid). The march is organized
and promoted by 350.org, the worldwide movement led by climate activist
Bill McKibben.
I’m combining the trip with a visit with our older son, who’s starting a program of graduate study at nearby Rutgers. Consolidating trips is certainly a fine energy-saver. Still, the thought of flying from Houston to New York and back to attend a climate action rally has seemed weirdly self-contradictory from the start, since I'd be emitting about a ton of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as a passenger on the flights there and back.
What to do? I want to be environmentally responsible, and I certainly don't want to leave myself open to charges of hypocrisy from the same sort of people who wondered snidely why Al Gore took a jet plane instead of riding his bicycle to a climate presentation in Tokyo.
Then I remembered how Gore himself tries to live a more carbon-neutral life despite his self-admittedly indulgent upper-class lifestyle. Among other things, he purchases carbon offsets, which fund projects to reabsorb carbon dioxide (e.g., through reforestation), replace fossil fuels with clean and renewable energy sources (e.g., windmills), or implement energy efficiencies that prevent CO2 from being emitted in the first place.
Gore can theoretically reach a net-zero carbon footprint simply by calculating the number of tons of carbon dioxide he generates in a year and purchasing the equivalent in carbon offsets, bringing his overall carbon footprint to zero. For those who can afford to do this, there’s probably no simpler way to reduce net carbon emissions, though buying offsets should never be used as an excuse for profligacy.
As I’ve begun to study up on carbon offsets, I’ve already learned two surprising things. First, our own household is emitting way more CO2 than I realized. My wife and I together send about 50 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere each year according to U.C. Berkeley’s friendly CoolClimate calculator. That figure is below the average for Americans in our income group, but it’s slightly above the national average, and dramatically above the world average per capita.
If I’m going to "talk the talk" about carbon emissions, I’m going to have to walk a better walk. Already I’m learning to live with significantly less air conditioning through this long steamy Houston summer. I’ve survived comfortably so far, and our electric bills are showing marked declines over the same month last year.
My second and much more pleasant surprise was to discover just how little it costs (only about $10 a ton) to offset carbon emissions. Thus if our two-person household emits 50 tons of CO2 per year, we can offset our total emissions (including car and plane travel) for only $500, or $250 apiece per year. For those of us who can afford to go to net-zero by this path, and who want to do the right thing by future generations, this is a small price to pay for a cleaner environment and a cleaner conscience.
So we’ve happily purchased $500 worth of carbon offsets (tax-deductible as a charitable contribution) from a reputable non-profit organization recommended by the environmental web magazine grist.com.
I’ll be writing more here about the pros and cons of carbon offsets, and sending a dispatch from the People’s Climate March in New York to share my thoughts and impressions of the event. My hope is that those who can afford to will consider offsetting their carbon footprints soon, and I’d like to do my bit to publicize and promote the emerging carbon offset movement of which I hope to be a part.
By the way, the cost of offsetting my roundtrip to New York was just $10. Call it conscience balm if you will, but where else can you buy anything for just $10 a ton? And now I don’t have to ride my bicycle to New York to prove I’m not a complete climate hypocrite.
-- originally posted on Danagram
I’m combining the trip with a visit with our older son, who’s starting a program of graduate study at nearby Rutgers. Consolidating trips is certainly a fine energy-saver. Still, the thought of flying from Houston to New York and back to attend a climate action rally has seemed weirdly self-contradictory from the start, since I'd be emitting about a ton of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as a passenger on the flights there and back.
What to do? I want to be environmentally responsible, and I certainly don't want to leave myself open to charges of hypocrisy from the same sort of people who wondered snidely why Al Gore took a jet plane instead of riding his bicycle to a climate presentation in Tokyo.
Then I remembered how Gore himself tries to live a more carbon-neutral life despite his self-admittedly indulgent upper-class lifestyle. Among other things, he purchases carbon offsets, which fund projects to reabsorb carbon dioxide (e.g., through reforestation), replace fossil fuels with clean and renewable energy sources (e.g., windmills), or implement energy efficiencies that prevent CO2 from being emitted in the first place.
Gore can theoretically reach a net-zero carbon footprint simply by calculating the number of tons of carbon dioxide he generates in a year and purchasing the equivalent in carbon offsets, bringing his overall carbon footprint to zero. For those who can afford to do this, there’s probably no simpler way to reduce net carbon emissions, though buying offsets should never be used as an excuse for profligacy.
As I’ve begun to study up on carbon offsets, I’ve already learned two surprising things. First, our own household is emitting way more CO2 than I realized. My wife and I together send about 50 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere each year according to U.C. Berkeley’s friendly CoolClimate calculator. That figure is below the average for Americans in our income group, but it’s slightly above the national average, and dramatically above the world average per capita.
If I’m going to "talk the talk" about carbon emissions, I’m going to have to walk a better walk. Already I’m learning to live with significantly less air conditioning through this long steamy Houston summer. I’ve survived comfortably so far, and our electric bills are showing marked declines over the same month last year.
My second and much more pleasant surprise was to discover just how little it costs (only about $10 a ton) to offset carbon emissions. Thus if our two-person household emits 50 tons of CO2 per year, we can offset our total emissions (including car and plane travel) for only $500, or $250 apiece per year. For those of us who can afford to go to net-zero by this path, and who want to do the right thing by future generations, this is a small price to pay for a cleaner environment and a cleaner conscience.
So we’ve happily purchased $500 worth of carbon offsets (tax-deductible as a charitable contribution) from a reputable non-profit organization recommended by the environmental web magazine grist.com.
I’ll be writing more here about the pros and cons of carbon offsets, and sending a dispatch from the People’s Climate March in New York to share my thoughts and impressions of the event. My hope is that those who can afford to will consider offsetting their carbon footprints soon, and I’d like to do my bit to publicize and promote the emerging carbon offset movement of which I hope to be a part.
By the way, the cost of offsetting my roundtrip to New York was just $10. Call it conscience balm if you will, but where else can you buy anything for just $10 a ton? And now I don’t have to ride my bicycle to New York to prove I’m not a complete climate hypocrite.
-- originally posted on Danagram
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