Steve signs the Kyoto Protocol

"I promise to meet Kyoto standards or buy carbon offsets!"

 The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that the level of greenhouse gas emissions in 1990 was adequate for sustaining lifesystems on this planet. Due to improved carbon emissions accounting individuals like myself can now be a part of the Kyoto Protocol.


Sweet spankin’ sustainability Batman, I’ve joined the ranks of the Kyotoers. No longer do I have to parade around in uncertainty wondering if I’m an envirobaron. We’ve reached a point in our civilization where I can now pretty accurately gauge how much greenhouse gasses I am personally responsible for emitting.

By the end of this year, I will have emitted around 11,000 pounds of carbon dioxide according to an average of National Geographic’s and Terrapass’ carbon calculators. (NG had me at 10,018 and Terrapass had me at 12,000 pounds of CO₂ released this year.) That isn’t great, but it’s not too shabby for an aspiring environmentalist.

According to my calculations last month, I found that last year individuals emitted around 15,418 pounds of carbon dioxide on average and the acceptable level of CO₂ emissions was around 6,424. So with the global population steadily increasing I figured that people could safely emit around 6,000 pounds of carbon this year.

Obviously I didn’t make that target, however, I did purchase 5,000 pounds of carbon credits to make up for my overage. In an ideal world, we wouldn’t have to purchase carbon credits. Our existing infrastructure would allow us to live our lives as close to carbon neutral as possible, but because our energy infrastructure is assy and ailing, purchasing carbon credits are a good start for offsetting greenhouse gas emissions in the future.

How carbon credits work: You spend money today to purchase green infrastructure projects for the future. For example, I gave my money to the company, Terrapass, so that it could divvy up my contribution into the various clean energy projects it provides capital for in the future. Like a microfinancing scheme, a bunch of people pool money together to purchase or invest in a good. Under the leadership of Terrapass a bunch of people and I are investing in greenhouse gas trapping projects or clean energy projects that will exist in the future.

Terrapass sells credits in 1,000 pound increments for $5.95. To be honest, that price tag seems a bit low and arbitrary to me, but how do you know? At the moment I’m taking a small leap of faith, assuming the money truly gets funneled to the places it’s supposed to get funneled to and that the carbon credit prices are fair and logical.

One day we will live in a world where there is a global cap and trade, or carbon credit market, where prices will fluctuate depending on supply and demand. Until that day comes, voluntary carbon purchasing for venture capital projects will have to do for me.

Fun Fact: “Between 1990 and 2006 Sweden cut its carbon emissions by 9%, largely exceeding the target set by the Kyoto Protocol, while enjoying economic growth of 44% in fixed prices.  

Carbon Offset – The Get Out of Jail Free Card?

In a phrase, “glorious slacking.” Yes, my driving mileage is crazy out of whack with what it should be, and no I don’t feel bad about it. YET.

Last weekend, my girlfriend and I took a bite out of the Big Apple. The salty and mealy portions of my tongue did backflips during their first encounters with Borscht, Blinztes and Knishes. Yes, Jewish delights were the mainstay of the voyage, but there were other goodies and moments of glory that made soaring by my carbon budget worth it. (By the way, if you think you have what it takes to turn down the temptations of New York just read Ileana’s post, I guarantee you won’t after that.)

But the thing is, even with my car spewing CO₂ - the most pervasive of greenhouse gases and the gas whose annual emissions has risen 80 percent from 1970 to 2004 – I don’t have to feel just that bad yet. Manmade wonder-bundles, a.k.a. carbon offsets, may just be the get out of jail free card I need, for my eco-slacking. But, I have some homework to do first.

Terrapass supplies carbon offsets as commodities to firms and individuals who are interested in negating their carbon emissions. Revenue generated, by the firms or individuals who buy offsets, funds renewable energy projects to go in place of fossil fuel projects.

See, my tummy gets all tied up in knots when it comes to the concept of buying something to offset the carbon I’ve already unloaded. I’m thinking that if I produce a jätte-ton (jätte = Swedish equivalent for helluh) of carbon, than how can I just buy an offset to make the carbon that I produced go away? It’s not like I’m purchasing a giant plant monster to come hoove up the carbon and convert it into oxygen.

Clearly not, but supposedly if I pay for the carbon I’ve emitted, the money that I spend goes toward funding renewable energy projects in other parts of the globe. So like, if I continue my Fat Cat spending and dole out emissions like it were cool, my money will go toward renewable energy projects that will be put in place of fossil fuel projects.

But what if those renewable energy projects weren’t going to be built in the first place? Now we just have extra resources and labor hours getting thrown into projects that spawn from the guilt of Carbon Fat Cats.

Obviously, I am missing something very important here. As soon as I get to the bottom of this, I will enlighten yee loyal readers. Stay posted.

Also, Food Stamps update coming soon.