Carbon Offsetting
So suppose you've revamped your lifestyle: you take the bus to work instead of driving, you've pared down your energy consumption, and you've traded in your gas guzzling old auto for a more efficient model. There may be other parts of your life that are more difficult to do change. Perhaps your house uses natural gas and thus produces greenhouse gases, you found you still need your car to go shopping, and you like to travel by air once in while. Then what? When you've done what you think you can to reduce greenhouse emissions, the next step is to go carbon neutral. This means that you pay someone for an activity that will mitigate or offset the greenhouse gases you are emitting.
Types of offset
Until recently, most carbon offsets were commonly done by planting trees. Now a wide variety of offset methods are available to choose from. Renewable energy, energy conservation, and methane capture offsets have also become popular. Renewable energy offsets commonly include solar power, wind power, and hydroelectric power and biofuel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy
Who's Doing It?
Carbon offsetting is now a $100-million-per-year industry and is the latest trend in going green. More and more airlines, businesses, politicians, and even entertainment awards shows are purchasing credits in order to declare themselves as carbon-neutral.
How Do You Do It?
Purchasing carbon offsets is easy. Type in "carbon offset purchase" in Google and you'll find a myriad of companies to help you. An online calculator will help you estimate the amount of carbon dioxide your lifestyle produces. You can then buy carbon offsets to mitigate your impact on the planet. It's important to do some research before you choose a company as there have been many claims of greenwashing.
Follow the advice of Clean Air Cool Planet, a New England-based nonprofit that has published A Consumer's Guide to Carbon Offsets for Carbon Neutrality.
This guide recommends you ask the carbon offset company the following questions:
1. Do
your offsets result from specific projects?
2. Do you use an objective standard to ensure the additionality and quality of
the offsets you sell? (Additionality means that the carbon credits you're
paying for happens in addition to "business as usual." There's no
point in paying to have 1000 trees planted if the company planting them was
going to do so anyway.)
3. How do you demonstrate that the projects in your portfolio would not have
happened without the greenhouse gas offset market?
4. Have your offsets been validated against a third-party standard by a credible source?
5. Do you sell offsets that will actually accrue in the future? If so, how long into the future, and can you explain why you need to "forward sell" the offsets?
6. Can you demonstrate that your offsets are not sold to multiple
buyers?
7. What are you doing to educate your buyers about climate change and the need
for climate change policy?
http://www.cdmgoldstandard.org/
In order to help consumers choose carbon offsets that are genuinely making a difference, an international standard for carbon offsets was developed recently in order to make sure that key environmental criteria have been met. The Gold Standard is considered to be the highest standard in the world for carbon offsets.
Creating Change
Some critics say that buying carbon offsets is simply buying peace of mind. However, when done right carbon offsetting can be a positive vehicle for change. For example, when you purchase offsets from a wind power company you are supporting the production of this type of energy and this helps to make it more economically viable. Take the plunge and go carbon neutral.