Mike Childs, head of science, policy and research at environmental organization Friends of the Earth, previously described carbon offsetting as a “massive con” to CNN, partly because any effect from offsetting is years off (and might never occur) and partly because efforts to reforest are already being made. Today, “nothing has fundamentally changed” with the schemes, he said.
Source: From alternative fuels to rationing trips: A guide to more sustainable flying
Many carbon offsets pay forest owners to not cut down trees – in many cases there were no plans to ever cut the trees anyway (often times because the terrain made logging unprofitable). Hence a con.
In my state, over 150,000 acres of forests upon which carbon offsets had been sold, burned up in wildfires last year. They ended up producing atmospheric carbon.
Me, who has not done international travel[1], lives in a solar PV powered house, heated by locally sourced wood, with fully updated insulation and having added a 220 outlet for future EV charging, and drives an old ICE car getting 42 mpg, is now told by the enviro’s who have traveled the world extensively that I should not be traveling.
They say we should take the train. From North America to Europe. Of course.
Get back to me when you come up with an actual solution. It’s easy to complain but far harder to do the real work to develop solutions.
[1] Today I believe international skills and a global mindset are keys to everyone’s success. If you do not have international skills, your professional career will end early and achieve little. Lots more at related blog: Coldstreams Travel and Global Thinking – Working on a global perspective
All young people should seek ways to become globalized and should start as young as they can do so. Don’t wait until you are retired to live life – and do not postpone life to when the environmentalists intend to ban you from the travels they have already completed. If you spend your life living for the future, there is a good chance that future may never exist. Don’t squander your life like I did – get out there now and start traveling. Returning to the stone ages is a non-starter.
