What is the deal with flying? Using a plane to get around is, apparently, the most greenhouse gas intensive form of transport per person per kilometer. Hard to believe when you're cheek to jowl with a drooling golfer and a sullen teenager in a hot cigar tube smelling of feet! But what can we do about it? Everyone needs to travel: for business, for relaxation, for love...
Here's an interesting fact: after September 11, scientists could study the effect of air travel - in particular comtrails - on the temperature of the earth. They found that there was a greater swing (about 1 degree C.) in temperatures during those days of no air travel then on those days with normal air travel. Studies have shown that flying during the day is better for the environment than at night, as comtrails actually reflect heat back into space during the day...
Carbon offsets have become popular and are a relatively cheap way of assuaging our travel guilt. But how effective are they? Some offsets plant trees, others buy energy efficient light bulbs for developing countries, and others subsidize carbon free energy projects such as wind farms. There is controversy about how effective they are. Some argue that tree planting will take decades to offset carbon produced by one flight, while energy efficient light bulbs may take years to offset the carbon. Is that bad? I don't know, I suppose it depends on whether the trees are still there in a hundred years. Also, it seems to me, contributing to carbon neutral energy sources are a way to almost immediately offset carbon as they inject green energy directly into the grid.
There are lots of websites offering to take your voluntary carbon tax. Here, here, here and here are some examples. Experts say to do your homework. Not all offsets are created equal. In Canada there is a watchdog agency run by the government. Make sure that the money you are giving them is going toward a project that could not be built without it, rather than one that is using your money to create a profit.
Speaking of which, does anyone know of a green fund that would work in a similar way? For example, instead of giving my $16.22 for flying to Calgary and back as an act of charity, could I not invest it in a company that is eco-certified? That way, the company gets investments, and I get a potential return on my investment. At the same time, I've supported a company that negates my carbon footprint? For the realist businessman with a big heart? I can't find anything like that. Good idea, though?
I did find this website though: www.kiva.org It is an investment website in the spirit of Mohammed Yunus and Grameen Bank - Nobel Peace Prize winners of 2006. On it you can make a small investment that makes a big difference in the lives of small businesses in the developing world. Who knows? Maybe you'll invest in the next Bill Gates?
There is also this question: can we solve our lifestyle's unsustainability by offsetting our carbon? Is it possible that carbon offsets are a profitable way to salve guilt while doing little to address the root concern? Friends of the Earth Scotland's Chief Executive, Duncan McLaren, said: "Too often, carbon offsetting schemes are being used as a smokescreen to avoid real measures to tackle climate change." Does anyone know the logic of offsetting our overuse of carbon? Can someone find numbers and post them?
