Carbon Offsets--Everybody's Doing It

Carbon neutral was recently named word(or in this case I guess phrase) of the year by one of the dictionary companies. Celebrities abound who consistently label themselves by this trendy new catchphrase. A recent article on CNN.com was titled "Carbon Neutral the New Black". So, why are people doing it and is it a good idea? These questions are difficult ones. Even some hardcore environmental groups don't like the idea. But hardcore preachers like Al Gore and David Suziki do it, so--should you?

I've been looking into it a bit to decide if we should do it. After all, you can reduce your consumption in many ways, but no one can escape the use of carbon entirely. Eventually a situation is going to occur that is going to require you to drive, to fly, or to participate in an event where much flying and driving occurred. So, unless you plan to live in a cave and sustain yourself with bannick and dried berries, you might want to investigate other ways to lower your footprint. I know that many people already consider our footprint to be relatively small. You know, I must confess that until a short time ago, I used to use the phrase "but we do more than most" to try and convince Bob to do or usually buy something that he didn't feel was quite in line with our beliefs. I had a conversation though with a friend of mine and she had a good way of putting it. In things like this, you have to set the bar for yourself and find a place where you feel your own sense of balance. There is no sense in comparing yourselves to others because there will always be someone who is doing more than you(unless your Mother Theresa). I'm telling you all this because this year we are doing a lot of environmental sinning--the worst kind. I'm afraid there are multiple opportunities that require us to *gulp* fly. In fact, Bob flew on Monday--to Houston for work. On Friday, we both fly to Saskatoon(out of necessity for a funeral) and then on the 31st, we leave on a two week holiday to Spain. Yikes! A lot of carbon for two carbon minded individuals. Especially since in the almost 10 years we've known each other we have only flown on four occassions that I can think of(although I think there was at least one more where Bob flew alone). We even drove for our honeymoon.

Ok, so the first two are necessities and they aren't very far, but the second one is also seen by us as a necessity. A much needed break from our kids, but also an opportunity to experience another culture which is important in our own global understanding. At least, that is how we justify it. Another way is we are buying carbon offsets.

Someone I met recently described offset websites as akin to sendmetenbucks.com...a brother scam of the Nigerian bank dudes. Well, I did stumble across a consumer report on the Suzuki foundation website. It falls short of listing all current sites as new ones are popping up daily(thus the whole scam thing), but it did have a short list and I stuck to those in making my decision. In fact, I chose www.nativeenergy.com even though Bob would have preferred a Canadian site. It is said by most that this is a global problem so global offsetting should be viewed as acceptable. Al Gore uses these guys to offset his electricity bills(at least until his solar panels are done being put up). I liked it because they gave an option to list connecting flights instead of only direct. And you could choose from three different ways to offset. The Pembina Institute also offers offsets, but currently their system is being updated and was unavailable--otherwise I would have seriously considered Alberta wind power. That said, I do consider this much like buying 'Green Max' through enmax. It is a way of paying what I see as the environmental cost of my activities. Call it guilt money(and many people do), but at least when you are doing it you are actually calculating your effect. In fact, I found many carbon footprint calculators on the net. Mostly to do with travel(driving and flying), but I did find one that really got me thinking about other ways to reduce--such as my virgin paper usage. You can find that calculator here:

http://www.conservation.org/ecofootprint/#top

I encourage you all to do it. It doesn't take long and it will really make you think about where your personal bar is set and whether you might be ready to move it up a notch! I guess that if it's the limbo, it would be down a notch...either way it's my next challenge...so do it!