Flying Westjet?
If anyone is going to fly Westjet, I'd like to encourage them to first go to http://offsetters.ca/ and then link through their site. Basically, Offsetters get rewarded for people visiting Westjet and Offsetters then takes that money and invests in projects that create emission reduction projects. It costs you nothing (NOTHING).. really. Just follow the link. Of course, if you fly another airline, you can also use Offsetters, or Climate Care (UK), or othes....
If you want more info on Carbon Offsets, and where to purchase them, see this article (it is American... Offsetters is the only Canadian place I'm aware of and they are trying to get some local Vancouver projects going) http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2006/10/10/gies/index.html
Also the David Suzuki Foundation has a great list of information on offsets: http://www.davidsuzuki.org/Climate_Change/What_You_Can_Do/carbon_neutral.asp
It's a great way to help relieve the impact of your living, until you can, yourself, make more of a shift towards living with less carbon (fossil fuels).
Comments
Good information TLC - glad
Good information TLC - glad you put that up here for everyone to use.
As for the detractors, I know where they are coming from, it's kind of like a rich person that drives a big polluting SUV giving lots of money to environmental groups and they therefore think they are environmental neutral (it's not that simple, i know, but thats what it seems like). But nonetheless, I think carbon offsets are a good thing, a step in the right direction.
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I completely agree that
I completely agree that planting trees to offset our emissions from fossil fuels does not solve the problem. I would suggest supporting projects that fall into three categories: creation of renewable energy, reduction in energy consumption, and perhaps avoiding deforestation (protecting the land).
I also totally agree that we should be focussing first on reducing emissions, and THEN offsetting them. For most of us, at the end of the day, even if we are careful about how/if we drive, when we fly, etc., we will still be consuming fossil fuels. Some people cannot give up their vehicles (maybe they have a family and need to transport the kids around), so why not at least account for your own emissions by helping other projects reduce emissions elsewhere?
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While this is a step in the
While this is a step in the right direction, I read an interesting series of articles in the New Internationalist's July Issue that really speaks to the fallacy that Carbon offsetting is actually making a difference. In fact, it is giving a reason for a lot of people to continue polluting - just plant some trees. But planting trees as a carbon offset is only a *temporary* carbon storage not permanent and of course is only as good as long as the tree lives, which is sometimes a problem with the widescale planting - many of the trees die.
Anyway, read the articles for yourself, but I think the message is that Carbon Offsetting is a nice idea, but isn't truly addressing the issues and is giving a convenient way out for people to continue polluting...