Carbon Offsetting

I genuinely don't have any problem with anyone making money. As long as each and every trade is a fair and equitable one. Further, while I don't see Carbon Offsetting as a solution to climate change, it is allowing NGO projects to help the poor in developing countries to buy energy saving appliances and reduce carbon emissions in that way. Also I do see planting trees as something we should all be doing.

However, as it takes fifty years for a tree to fully absorb the carbon produced now from burning fossil fuels, it creates the illusion that we can continue generating pollution and by offsetting we are being virtuous. The predicament we have is that we are burning ancient carbon from the Cretaceous period that was locked away millions of years ago and expecting to solve it by planting trees that will lock away the carbon for a few hundred years at best.

At the moment, the average temperature on earth is 14 degrees Celsius, that's a rise of one degree on the pre industrialised average In the Cretaceous period the average temperature was 25 degrees Celsius That is greater increase then the scientists are saying would have already made the human extinct.

While planting trees should be happening and I don't mind organisations making money from this, I do have a problem with some of the organisations that are seeking to collect money from offsetting.

Yesterday, I noticed an advert that I had to explore as the strap line was Gore was wrong. The web site detailed the fact that since the 15th century we have reduced tree cover by ten billion acres. Further, that just by planting trees we solve the problem. While this may be great PR (Bulls**t) for the offsetting industry, it is based upon bad science. As I have already said the carbon that is causing the problem is the ancient carbon from millions of years ago. Additionally, trees can only capture the carbon for a few hundred years and eventually even if those trees are then replaced CO2 emissions will then start increasing as we have filled all the spare land with woodlands and forests.

I bookmarked the site as I was thinking of writing about it as junk science and junk science, particularly the myths perpetuated by the oil companies, is largely responsible for much of the inaction on tackling climate change. Then I thought I would investigate further. Using the contact details they provide on the site, I discovered that its run by a “FOR PROFIT” company called American Capital Resource's and Information and not the not for profit group that are claimed on the website.

Therefore anyone wanting to offset their carbon from air travel say, needs to be sure of the people they are giving their money to. Additionally, to truly offset the CO2 from a flight you will need to plant much more than the one or two trees that most offsetting sites will tell you. As a fully laden flight from Heathrow to Orlando in Florida, each passenger will need to plant one hundred and fifty trees to absorb the CO2 from that flight alone. That is the true cost of carbon offsetting.

The Website in Question

The People behind the website

Catching Up

Today and part of yesterday I have been playing catch up. I have been so busy out of the house, that even my cat, was asking who I was when I came in. So it was down to all the boring housework bits. However, because of where I am living as I hung my washing out on the line, I saw two of the Red Kites glide over in the distance. It even made me feel less peeved at having to do the housework.

In between doing essential bits around the house I have been trying to catch up on some emails and letters, so if anyone is expecting a message from the mouse it will be coming, soon…

Its not all been hard work though and I did get some time for a stroll That’s when I saw this Phaeoulus schweinitzeii although I took this image off it a few weeks ago. I was surprised it was still there, as frequently the kids destroy any of the fruiting bodies of fungi they see.

Because I was playing catch up, I was able to find the time to read some of my friends Blog's, and one made an interesting point. Because of where she lives, it sounds like a paradise the way she writes about it; she has to use wood as her fuel. However, it concerns her that it adds to her carbon footprint.

The simple answer is no it doesn’t, as it is part of a closed carbon cycle loop. The tree grows, capturing carbon, which is only released when it is burnt.

However, it is a little more complex than that as that carbon that is released will be around for about fifty years before it is reabsorbed. Thus while it still is that closed carbon cycle it is the timescale that prevents the answer being simple. This is also why carbon offsetting is so unrealistically simplistic.

This is where people pay for trees to be planted as a salve for their conscience when they jet off on holiday. Even if everyone did that from now on it would not be for fifty to seventy five years that those trees would start to have any impact upon carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.

The real problem with burning any fuel is understanding its source. If that fuel was produced using the suns energy from the last couple of centuries, then it is part of a closed loop carbon cycle. With using the suns energy stored in fossil fuels is that it old energy and ancient carbon, that became locked away to provide the breathable atmosphere we have to day.

By releasing that old carbon we are changing the atmosphere back to a state when life barely existed. Not forgetting that plants were first, we are in danger of wiping out all animal life on the planet.