With historic national gasoline prices, why spend more on energy in order to reduce global warming?
Certainly, it would be easier to remain with the status quo and hope that retail prices return to more manageable levels. The stakes of doing so are too high, though.
I could show you pictures and run through the consequences of polar ice melting in northern Canada or the effect on animals of melting polar caps.
For this post and its second part, though, let’s focus on available solutions and the question of which are best.
For most of us, adopting a carbon-neutral lifestyle would be impractical without the benefit of renewable energy credits, also known as offsets or green tags.
Simply put, offsets function in 2 key ways. Either they:
1) Fund the planting of trees or subsidize renewable energy projects which will pull carbon from the air later
or
2) Use the proceeds from the sale of those green tags to offer renewable energy to the nation’s grid at a comparable price to fossil-fueled energy.
Ideally, we would not produce the carbon emissions in the first place but the climate crisis is so severe and worsening every day that we must be open to interim steps. Carbon offsets are one such step.
How does one begin?
For my part, when I decided in 2004 that Catrin and I should go carbon-neutral, I already knew the types of projects I would prefer to fund with the offsets we purchase.
In my next post, I will explain why we use the options we do. For right now, though, please allow me to explain our regimen for remaining carbon-neutral even as life calls upon us to produce more carbon in some years than others.
Our carbon-neutral status is achieved through participation in two monthly programs (Krystal Planet and Wind Current) and then supplemented with TerraPass as needed.
Theoretically, our monthly participation in the first two programs is adequate to offset most any domestic travel whether by airplane or automobile. However, we prefer to set a high standard and thus be certain that we never tip the scales back toward carbon-positive, even for one month.
I will close with an example. On June 9, the day before my 38th birthday, I drove round-trip from Orlando to Hallandale, FL near Fort Lauderdale. It was a 400-mile journey. During most of the trip, my car averaged just shy of 30mpg. It’s an unacceptable number but on an average day I use mass transit so I tolerate the vehicle’s poor economy. In any case, the conference which I attended was scheduled such that flying only would have increased my emissions. I chose to drive instead and then spent $10 on a green tag from TerraPass to offset the resulting pollution.
In a perfect world, I never would have emitted the carbon in the first place but as it stands, the final result was that my pollution was absorbed by a renewable energy project elsewhere. Everybody won!
Sustainable Justice For All!
Corbett Kroehler
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