I Just Bought My First Carbon Offset!

August 25th

Tags: Energy, Neat Stuff, Natural Resources.

I’ve only briefly mentioned carbon offsetting before, but now I’m ready to take the leap. Offsetting is not as clear and simple as I once thought, and there are plenty of great arguments against the idea altogether. Treehugger has an excellent post with some very useful information. Read the comments to get the full story.

My main concerns with carbon offsets were these:

  • They might be a completely useless hoax.
  • They stand to actually do harm to the environment by creating a sense of complacency.

I hate to admit that I was so confused about the various programs, I took no action for a long time. Who is non-profit? How much of the money actually goes into the carbon offsets? What system do they use to offset the carbon? Trees? Renewable energy? Emissions trading? What about the trees—are they native trees? How long do they actually hold carbon?

Whew.

So, I decided to put off the decision until after the wedding. Then today, I was delighted to discover that Terrapass has been independently verified. Plus, you can check out a list of projects they have already completed, and they will answer any questions you have about the projects.

That answers the first of my two concerns. As for the second, I just refuse to be pegged as complacent because I buy an offset. We flew to Mexico. Sure, we could have had our honeymoon here in Virginia, but I believe in the value of seeing new things, people, places, monkeys, etc. I’ve already given up my car, and flying is a rare and special treat. So no, I am not worried about becoming complacent.

Between the verification and the transparency of Terrapass, I felt pretty comfortable using them to offset our flight to Mexico. It cost $9.95 to offset both round—trip flights. That seems crazy cheap to me! It’s also got me thinking about green energy investing, but that’s a whole other bag of worms.

Terrapass gave me a breakdown of how my carbon (2500 pounds) would be offset. A combination of renewable energy credits and carbon credits offsets from the Chicago Climate Exchange make up my offset. Woohoo!

2 Responses to “I Just Bought My First Carbon Offset!”


  1. Yesterday when I was on my lunch break I saw a big stupid SUV with a large “Offset by Terrapass” bumper sticker on the back. Now, I have no problem with what you did with your plane tickets, but the fact that some moron with a 10 mpg urban assault vehicle can feel better about destroying the environment is troubling.

    This is certainly a thorny issue, and I know you’ve weighed both sides carefully, but I’d have to say that I don’t support the program. People like Captain Ford Expedition will think it’s ok to drive these cars as long as they’re donating to the cause. It’s like George W. donating to the Green party while continuing to “lead” the country into ruin (I was going to use some sort of Hitler and the Jews analogy here but thought better of it).

    People like you (ie: concerned with the environment) will take steps to make change through action and money. Who knows, if Soccer Mom really was feeling guilty of her gas guzzler, and there was no Terrapass, perhaps she would trade it in for a more efficient car. SUVs aren’t cheap! She could probably get a hybrid for the trade-in value.

    I guess my opinion is that the complacency gained by the aforementioned offender and others like him/her is worse for the environment than the impact of the Terrapass donations.

    mark September 13th, 2006 at 12:19 pm

  2. Hey Mark! I understand where you’re coming from, and that is one of the points made by many opponents of carbon-offset programs. I tend to believe that someone who is complacent enough to drive the big SUV is going to be complacent no matter what. Sure, giving money to Terrapass or some other organization might give them a do–gooder feeling, but I honestly think that it probably makes no difference in their day to day endeavors. I know that I am stereotyping in a big way here, but I don’t think that an absence of carbon offsets would compel people like this to trade in their cars, use more efficient fuels, or even drive less.

    So to go along with your analogy - George W. is going to screw up the environment whether or not the Green party exists to help him assuage his conscience. What do I care if he thinks he’s a great guy doing the world a favor by donating to them even though his evil works outweigh his donation? The important thing is that we help invest in new technologies, and we hope to change the way consumers vote with their dollars. If some jackass wants to be a hypocrite while he hands over his money for green causes, at least he’s not just a hypocritical jackass who doesn’t help at all.

    I know that’s a bit of a rambling response. I meant to address this idea in the original post, but I just couldn’t find a concise way of explaining how I feel about it. So there’s the not–so–consise version!

    Heidi September 13th, 2006 at 1:47 pm

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