tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post8861565145884550649..comments2023-11-03T11:37:04.473+00:00Comments on nothing new under the sun: Carbon offsetting: de rigueur or distraction?byron smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-7850413853175244022014-06-06T05:35:46.514+01:002014-06-06T05:35:46.514+01:00The Conversation: Carbon offsets can do more envir...The Conversation: <a href="https://theconversation.com/carbon-offsets-can-do-more-environmental-harm-than-good-26593" rel="nofollow">Carbon offsets can do more environmental harm than good</a>.byron smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-91637941973401265322013-05-31T15:35:57.732+01:002013-05-31T15:35:57.732+01:00Science Daily: Land-Based Carbon Offsets: False Ho...Science Daily: <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130530095020.htm" rel="nofollow">Land-Based Carbon Offsets: False Hope? Forest and Soil Carbon Is Important, but Does Not Offset Fossil Fuel Emissions</a><br /><br />"There is a danger in believing that land carbon sinks can solve the problem of atmospheric carbon emissions because this legitimises the ongoing use of fossilbyron smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-52616301586508310792013-01-31T12:32:10.587+00:002013-01-31T12:32:10.587+00:00Guardian: What's the best form of carbon offse...Guardian: <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/05/carbon-offsetting-travel" rel="nofollow">What's the best form of carbon offsets?</a><br /><br />"you shouldn't "kid yourself" that carbon offsetting can somehow lead you towards a status of carbon neutrality. It patently can't. But that shouldn't disguise the fact that many of the projects that byron smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-85395085727294802542013-01-31T12:16:47.066+00:002013-01-31T12:16:47.066+00:00Leo Hickman: Should we stop flying?
Hickman gathe...Leo Hickman: <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2013/jan/31/flying-environmental-impact-stop-worrying" rel="nofollow">Should we stop flying?</a><br /><br />Hickman gathers perspectives from a number of experts about the (increasingly common) claim that since aviation emissions are to be included in the EU ETS, then it doesn't matter if you fly, since the permits required by byron smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-52020226085545443552012-08-27T15:06:23.189+01:002012-08-27T15:06:23.189+01:00BBC: Greenwash - a "carbon-neutral" airp...BBC: <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-19385782" rel="nofollow">Greenwash - a "carbon-neutral" airport</a>.byron smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-54958441251465887742012-08-02T17:32:33.673+01:002012-08-02T17:32:33.673+01:00Having said that flying in a commercial jet aircra...Having said that flying in a commercial jet aircraft is the most climate-destructive activity open to the average citizen of the wealth world, I've just discovered that some places (at least in the US) offer rides in a fighter jet to paying passengers. My quick back-of-the-envelope calculation puts the emissions from this at something like 8-15 tonnes CO2e per hour. Wow.<br /><br />(For byron smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-17891432844177002952012-06-18T23:36:43.575+01:002012-06-18T23:36:43.575+01:00(cont.)
Although globally aviation accounts for &...(cont.)<br /><br />Although globally aviation accounts for "only" some 2% of total man-made greenhouse gas emissions (depending on how one chooses to weight the so-called aviation multiplier), it is one of the fastest rising sources due to the explosive growth in air travel (which far outweighs the slow gains in aircraft efficiency). More importantly, few activities do more than byron smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-55752565160522520612012-06-18T23:36:34.980+01:002012-06-18T23:36:34.980+01:00A comment below a Guardian article by Ban-Ki Moon ...A comment below a Guardian article by Ban-Ki Moon about the Rio +20 summit that I thought was worth including here.<br />------------<br /><br />Dr. (Hon.) Ban Ki-moon:<br /><br />At Rio, more than 100 heads of state and government will join an estimated 25,000 participants to map our way ahead. For too long we have sought to burn and consume our way to prosperity. That model is dead.<br /><br />byron smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-6084089065785734952012-04-20T17:43:03.881+01:002012-04-20T17:43:03.881+01:00Inside Story: A clean energy future for whom? One ...Inside Story: <a href="http://inside.org.au/a-clean-energy-future-for-whom/" rel="nofollow">A clean energy future for whom?</a> One of the most intelligent analyses of the current Australian legislation, getting into the details of which elements originated with the ALP and which with the Greens, as well as a useful discussion of the critical place of international offsets after 2020 in the byron smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-34245194191366644992012-03-21T17:17:08.195+00:002012-03-21T17:17:08.195+00:00Matt - Great to hear from you! I've been inten...Matt - Great to hear from you! I've been intending to be in touch and see what you're up to these days.<br /><br />The approach you've outlined sounds like it is very much consistent with the kinds of concerns I was trying to raise in this post. I am not against all offsetting, I simply think that we have to be very careful in how it is discussed and "sold" and rationalised byron smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-68393424148734567362012-03-21T03:58:00.378+00:002012-03-21T03:58:00.378+00:00Hey Byron,
long time since we've connected. ...Hey Byron,<br /><br />long time since we've connected. but I still get the feed! I just thought I'd point you to one resource connected to my work with A Rocha and that is a partner project, Climate Stewards: http://www.climatestewards.net/cs-int-en/home.html<br /><br />I take all of your points and the continued discussion about offsetting schemes. What I would just want to footnote Matt Humphreynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-83485072396253246442012-03-15T14:33:43.034+00:002012-03-15T14:33:43.034+00:00However, to get carbon out of the active cycle on ...However, to get carbon out of the active cycle on a more permanent basis, the most reliable natural way is through rock weathering. This is the main way that atmospheric concentrations (which have sometimes been well above 1000 ppm) have declined in the past. All you need to do is wait for continental drift to push up a few mountain ranges and then let them erode. The process of weathering byron smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-50416105664119068152012-03-15T14:33:29.781+00:002012-03-15T14:33:29.781+00:00An acquaintance asked about the active/inactive ca...An acquaintance asked about the active/inactive carbon cycles reference on Facebook and I thought I'd record my answer here. Here is the question:<br /><br /><i>One thing that struck me after reading the part about forestry replanting schemes is what is the best way to take carbon out of the carbon cycle. You say that planting trees doesn't really solve the problem because it simply byron smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-32868369974851984142012-03-14T10:07:28.777+00:002012-03-14T10:07:28.777+00:00New Internationaliste: Critique of offsets. This r...New Internationaliste: <a href="http://www.newint.org/features/2006/07/01/carbon-offsets-facts/" rel="nofollow">Critique of offsets</a>. This raises a number of similar points, though is from 2006, so the numbers may no longer be accurate (if they ever were).byron smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-5581217181864926872012-03-13T22:52:44.828+00:002012-03-13T22:52:44.828+00:00Mongabay: Possible fraud in a Norway/WWF REDD proj...Mongabay: <a href="http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0228-hance_corruption_redd.html" rel="nofollow">Possible fraud</a> in a Norway/WWF REDD project in Tanzania. Of course this is a single example, though it illustrates one of the challenges of such programmes.byron smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-46473279499704101362012-03-13T17:22:20.580+00:002012-03-13T17:22:20.580+00:00I've now removed the Amnesty reference as a di...I've now removed the Amnesty reference as a distraction from the point being made.<br /><br />My underlying point is not that emitting carbon is wrong in and of itself (as torture is), but that the practice of offsetting all too often and all too easily serves as a barrier to consideration of more important questions about reducing our dependence upon climate-disrupting activities.byron smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-23464354225610607662012-03-07T20:19:26.187+00:002012-03-07T20:19:26.187+00:00And so notice that I am not here contrasting marke...And so notice that I am not here contrasting market solutions with command solutions, but speaking about cultural changes (see <a href="http://nothing-new-under-the-sun.blogspot.com/2010/06/joyfully-embracing-less-and-more.html" rel="nofollow">here</a> for some of the changes I'm thinking of). I presently remain somewhat agnostic about the best policy path to support (not achieve, merely byron smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-53268498210817328762012-03-07T20:19:23.315+00:002012-03-07T20:19:23.315+00:00Yes, better accreditation could help to reduce the...Yes, better accreditation could help to reduce the gap between reality and perception, but never close it. Fossil fuel combustion plus new forest containing the equivalent carbon is not ecologically or morally equivalent to avoiding the emissions altogether. Apart from the non-carbon costs of fossil fuels mentioned above, the fact remains that carbon has been moved into the active cycle from the byron smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-89190881631179989662012-03-07T20:18:59.892+00:002012-03-07T20:18:59.892+00:00Hi James,
Thanks for a thoughtful comment that ra...Hi James,<br /><br />Thanks for a thoughtful comment that raises many of the important issues in this debate. My reply is intended in all respect and I hope stimulates further discussion.<br /><br />The Amnesty example is indeed disanalogous, I grant. Even as I put it in, I felt hesitant about it. Littering comes closer, being a cumulative problem (unlike adultery or torture), though it misses byron smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28189019.post-56584560153575999542012-03-06T02:28:06.484+00:002012-03-06T02:28:06.484+00:00Hi Byron,
I agree offsetting is fraught with prob...Hi Byron,<br /><br />I agree offsetting is fraught with problems and we need to demand better implementations - I for one have been guilty of using the airline schemes and not asking the obvious question about how they can be so cheap.<br /><br />However I find the argument about all offsetting being innately immoral quite flawed. This in particular:<br /><br />"donating to Amnesty doesn&#James Fergusonhttp://j-ferguson.comnoreply@blogger.com