Zero Carbon Cities
June 11th, 2008
Ever since the launch of the Centre for Alternative Techology’s “Zero Carbon Britain” report it seems people keep sending me stuff about zero carbon projects. This website was new to me though - make your city carbon zero with Zerofootprint. A Canadian based company selling an array of personal and business offsets. If you want to zerocarbon your home you can buy an offset for just $64.00 (US). You can read more about the project here, including a very useful booklet on everything you ever wanted to know about offsets but were afraid to ask. They even sell a “carbon card” which they describe thus:
“Carbon offsets are the perfect gift for any occasion. Each tonne of carbon dioxide you give to your friends or family is a tonne that won’t go into the atmosphere, and won’t contribute to global warming. That’s a tonne of doing the right thing”.
While there are communities that support offsetting projects, Personally I prefer to reduce my carbon emissions and wean myself off my oil dependent lifestyle rather than investing in offsetting schemes as I can’t get my head round how this leads to tangible reductions in emissions. How do other low carbon communities feel about schemes like this? Is offsetting a short term answer to our high carbon lifestyle? Have any communities invested in offsetting projects? If so, what’s your view?
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3 Comments Add your own
1. Cathy King | June 12th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Carbon offsetting encourages people to think they can continue to over-consume without harming the planet. As we know, there is no such thing as a ‘get out of jail free’ card. For me, there’s also the issue of properly auditing the activities of carbon offsetting companies like this one. And offsetting does nothing to address the peak oil issue either.
2. Derek Smith | June 14th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Carbon offsetting fails to address the real issue and does nothing to change habits of a lifetime. There does not appear to be any audit trail so how do you know if and when such monies are invested? There are of course individuals who have global travel commitments due to their work but companies should also be considering the use of technology such as webcasting to reduce travel and therefore emissions. Individuals,
3. Patrick Crossfield | June 27th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Like most other developments in this increasingly consumerist world, business has seen an opportunity to make money out of this type of activity. Reminds me of Nero, and something to do with Rome burning…….
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