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Climate, Conscience, and Atmospheric Carbon
Alan AtKisson, WorldChanging
In my work, I have to fly. Both the NGO that I run, and the consultancy that I own, regularly send people around the planet, on planes powered by that ancient congealed plant matter we call “fossil fuel.”
What about the carbon dioxide emissions associated with all that travel?
It has become more and more popular to “neutralize” carbon emissions by making a financial investment in renewable energy projects or tree-planting programs.
…I’m grateful, but plagued with doubts. All such “solutions” to global warming can easily be criticized away. The trees in South Carolina would probably not have been planted if the forest that previously stood there had not been cut (thereby releasing their carbon). And the new trees will, in all likelihood, someday be cut as well.
And at the global level, it is hard to make an iron-clad case that an investment in ethanol production in Brazil is not contributing (through systemic knock-on effects) to rainforest depletion, or that building a windmill in India is actually “displacing” fossil fuel use that would otherwise have occurred there (it could just be adding to overall energy availability and thus consumption).
There are also difficult ethical questions involved: if you “pay” an African village not to use fossil fuel, and then put the benefits of that transaction into your own “carbon account,” isn’t that a new form of colonialism?
…In fact, the only sure way to cut carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel use is not to burn the fossil fuel in the first place.
In my organizational life, we are increasing our use of tele- and videoconferencing, and we make extensive use of web and email, of course. When such technologies actually replace a face-to-face meeting or package delivery, then a real reduction has occurred. Otherwise, it’s all theoretical — and terribly difficult to verify.
(31 August 2007)
Thoughtful piece about a sticky issue. WorldChanging has recently posted two other pieces on air travel:
Greening Air Travel by Alex Steffen
Fly Less, Videoconference More by Mindy Lubber
Velib cycles in Paris
MMGutman, YouTube
(7 August 2007)
This ten-minute video explains the nuts-and-bolts of the new bike rental scheme that is sharing up Paris.
Vélib’ homepage (in French)
Recommended by Glenn at The Oil Drum: New York City:
The video above from Paris about their new bike sharing program was sent to me by one of the local bike advocates here in NYC that wanted to highlight something he thought would revolutionize biking in NYC. In just a few weeks, the Paris bike sharing program has tallied over a million bike trips around town. It’s hard to imagine even some of the best mass transit programs getting that much use over the first few weeks, especially at such a low cost. A friend who was on vacation in Paris at the time wrote to be that he rode for 7 miles on a tour around town and it felt great.
So I’d like all TOD readers from all over the world to contribute your own examples of environmental best practices from your community. We would like to post these examples on this page, which we are considering renaming TOD:LOCAL. And “Local” is wherever you happen to be.
…Below, please find a wonderful 30 minute video created by the one and only Clarence Eckerson Jr. celebrating the changes that Portland, OR is making to become more sustainable.
Another YouTube post shows that Vélib’ has entered pop culture, though it may not be what the creators had imagined: Velib’ Freeride: young people doing stunts with the Vélib’ bicycles. We are assured that “Aucun des Vélib’ utilisés dans cette video n’a été maltraité” (“None of the Vélib bicycles used in this video was maltreated.”)
