The term carbon-neutral has become something of a buzz word. Through a combination of conservation efforts and offsets, my wife Catrin and I have lived carbon-neutral since the year 2004. Carbon-neutral simply means to live as if there were no industrialization, producing only as much pollution as is necessary for a basic existence.
Sadly, if the entire world became carbon-neutral overnight, if we parked every car, decommissioned every fossil-fueled power plant and extinguished every forest fire, we could not save the Greenland ice shelf from melting into the North Atlantic.
Put another way, if we want to save ourselves from the ravages of global warming and reverse the crisis, we must become carbon-negative. We must return our planet’s atmosphere to its cleaner, earlier state while expanding the global economy at the same time.
It’s a tall order but it can be done. Fiji Artesian Water claims to be a carbon-negative company. I have reviewed the assertions of its FijiGreen.com website. There is much to admire about what Fiji Artesian Water is doing to expand its business, protect biodiversity in Fiji and reverse global warming. However, despite its commendable alliance with Conservation International and other environmental organizations, Fiji Artesian Water sends a bad environmental message because it encourages people to drink water from the other side of the world.
Back in October, I told you why this is a bad idea from an environmental perspective. Despite the impressive changes which Fiji Artesian Water has made to its operating model, it is left with a bad environmental message. Water should be water and the goal of every environmentalist should be to see that all of humanity has access to clean drinking water which also is tasty. Until we have that, no carbon-negative company which sells water can claim the high ground.
Fomenting the Triple Bottom Line
Corbett Kroehler
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