When my friend Sid announced that she was planning a trip to England, everyone asked her whether she was going to offset her carbon emissions.
A very fashionable concept
The question might sound weird at first sight, but it has become increasingly frequent in environmentally conscious circles in America. The general idea behind the nebulous "offsetting" term is to help the persons who feel guilty about their carbon emissions to "offsett" them by contributing financially to projects that might either compensate or spare an equivalent amount of carbon that would otherwise be vented into the atmosphere.
Though the concept might seem quite simple, it is in fact pretty tricky. First, the person who dearly wishes to diminish one's ecological footprint will discover that the estimation of one's carbon emissions can vary wildly according to the company chosen. Then, one will discover that even if the amount of emissions is similarly estimated, the price of a tonne of carbon might also be subjected to wide variations.
British Airways: a "green" company?
But let's go back to Sid, who might be considered lucky; as it proudly advertises, British Airways (more commonly known as BA) is actually the first airline that introduced the possibility of carbon compensation to its customers. One might then easily imagine that this means more experience in the offsetting business and therefore better projects. Indeed, for the curious customer willing to spend a few minutes investigating how his money will be used, the "climate projects" funded by BA may well look quite interesting.
Did the inhabitants of the Atlantis have the right light bulbs?
One of them is focused on the Marshall Islands, an archipelago that is (according to BA) "under severe threat from rising sea levels due to global warming". To say this straight, this doesn't sound like much fun for its inhabitants, who may well feel a bit concerned by the fact that each rountrip Boston/Manchester emits as much carbon than two Chineses during a year. But why should they worry? BA has the solution! The company is installing highly efficient compact fluorescent lamps in a third of the Majoro island's homes. No doubt that this is going to make all the difference when sea levels will indeed start to rise seriously... It's a pity that the environmentally conscious website of BA does not include a notice saying that a better option to fight global warming and insure a future to the Marshall Islands would be not to take the plane.
Believe it or not, but Sid has decided not to compensate her carbon emissions.
Picture: http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/gri/lowres/grin548l.jpg
1 commentaire:
We took American Airlines at the end of the day - as they were the only company that flew direct between Boston-Manchester... If we had taken BA - we would have had to fly to London, then onto Manchester... "Double" flights!
Oh, and I do tend to store up "carbon emissions" on aeroplanes... But, not my fault - pressurised cabins! Perhaps we are not supposed to be hurling through the air in a big metal bird? Hmmm?
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