As we close out one of the hottest and deadliest summer seasons ever in the northern hemisphere, we find new questions arising about the role which green tags, also called carbon offsets or carbon credits, can play in reversing the global climate crisis.
At the same time, we find that local cineplexes are showing not one but two films about life in our planet’s polar regions and the impact which global warming has on wildlife, “A Polar Tale” and “11th Hour”.
Since I have advocated that offsets can play a crucial role in a blended approach to conservation, this seems an ideal juncture to offer my carbon credit definition. Specifically, do I define such credits are good, good over the short term or bad?
In a perfect world, none of us would emit carbon over and above what we need in order to breathe and metabolize calories. In other words, if we lived an agrarian or non-industrialized existence, didn’t burn down or slash millions of acres of forests every year and poison our oceans with pollution and acid rain to the point that they become lifeless in large dead zones, the planet could sustain all life forms which inhabit its surface and seas.
Since the reality is quite different and I do not propose that we shutter all factories, ground all aircraft and park all cars, we are left with a choice. How do we reverse the effects of global warming while maintaining the amenities and benefits which life in the new millennium affords us? Carbon credits are part of the solution.
Ultimately, all of the world’s corporations will have to take responsibility for their contribution to global warming and eliminate their emissions (or reduce them by 90%+). Individuals must mirror such reductions but doing so can be easier for us than for commercial enterprises. That’s where carbon credits come into play. They allow companies to continue polluting temporarily even while their peers reduce their emissions. In short, companies using carbon credits buy the right to continue pumping out greenhouse gases.
Allow me to be clear: I do not state that carbon credits are a panacea. Nay, so long as the emission of carbon continues on an industrial scale, work remains to be done. However, the world’s economy cannot stop while we figure out how to live and work in as green a manner as possible. That is why credits are an important interim tool.
What should we do, then, as consumers?
We must tell the companies we patronize, from the local grocer to top marketers of national brands, both with our wallet and direct engagement with the executive suite, that we want them to adopt strategies for greening themselves. We want them to report their carbon emissions at least annually and disclose how they go about reducing year over year the pollution they generate.
If we do that, eventually, carbon credits will be unnecessary. Until then, however, credits are an important starting point. This is not merely my position. It is the one espoused by leading environmentalists, including the good folks at the Environmental Defense Fund.
My carbon credit definition, then, is that they are good over the short term and more companies should learn to use them.
Sustainable Justice For All!
Corbett Kroehler
Ask
a Question or Leave a Comment
(0)
Digg This 
Del.icio.us