Carbon Offset

Written By Admin
Dated: March 26, 2007

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Carbon offset is the process an individual or business may take in reducing carbon emissions into the atmosphere.  These emissions are deadly to the overall health of the Earth, making regulation of air pollution a necessity.  This can be achieved in more than one way such as tree planting, energy conservation, emissions trading, and using renewable energy.  The overall goal of the process is to effectively reduce the potentially disastrous effects of global warming.

Carbon offsetting is important in the fight against global warming, since reducing the amount of carbon dioxide released into the air, will in turn reduce the temperature increase that many believe Earth is currently experiencing.  The most common way to achieve this is by simply planting trees.  This is effective, since trees naturally take in the greenhouse gas, carbon monoxide, and release oxygen.  Many critics of this system say that the carbon monoxide is released as the tree decays and dies and is therefore just a temporary solution to the real problem.  Critics also point to the study published which proved planted trees did, in fact, take much of the carbon monoxide out of the air, but didn’t make an impact on the overall global warming problem and made little impact on the climate change needed, to return Earth back to ‘normal’.  Many claim that it isn’t worth it as about 900 trees need to be planted, for each resident in the United States, annually.

Renewable energy has become an increasingly popular carbon offset technique and has been proven to reduce air pollution drastically.  Wind power, solar power, and biofuel generally make up this category.  The global warming problem and renewable energy sources have given birth to things such as the emission trading market, in an effort to keep emissions as low as possible.  Businesses in the program get allowances from an authority, such as the government, for not surpassing the allowed pollution limit.  If a business gets a better pollution score than is set, then they can earn extra money by selling credits to another business who did not meet the limit.  Basically, the business who did not meet its limit is punished, and must pay a business who did meet the limit for the credits they need to meet their own limit.  This process is what’s called emissions trading, and is used to reduce carbon emissions.  It has given companies incentives to invest in renewable energy sources, to cut down dependency on fossil fuels and air pollution.  Some say the program hasn’t had the effect it should have as some companies can continually buy their way out of the program and not participate in the fight to reduce global warming.

Companies who haven’t made the standard don’t want to suffer negative public opinion, and the term ‘green-washing’ has come into play.  This is the act of making your product or service look more environmentally friendly than it is, or outright lying.  Critics of the emissions trading program say this is another big flaw as consumers can be tricked by the allegations.  It can be rather misleading, for instance a car manufacturer claiming they were making ‘green’ vehicles and supporting cleaner factories when they were actually increasing production of gas-guzzling vehicles.  Consumers who want to support the ‘green’ cause, therefore, have to do much more research to help fight carbon emissions and help global warming.

To help in the fight against air pollution, global warming, climate changes, and reduction of greenhouse gases, the Kyoto Protocol was introduced.  The United Nations ratified this protocol to reduce carbon emissions and other greenhouse gases as well as to promote emissions trading.  Most nations have accepted the protocol with Australia and the United States not participating.  China has signed on, but has received a pardon on certain rules due to its situation, one of the main reasons George Bush refused to ratify the protocol.

Creating renewable energy is important for the future, but the present should be considered too.  To help against things such as air pollution or carbon emissions, energy conservation is being effectively used.  This is the process of reducing the amount of energy used, to free up resources for other things, or to reduce the amount of energy needed overall to run countries of the world.  This is very effective in reducing global warming, since less energy will have to be created through possible carbon-emissive means.  To help influence this change, as an example, governments like the United States’ have let civilians take rather large tax breaks from buying hybrid cars that do not fully depend on fossil fuels to run. The recent attempts at reducing energy-related dependencies may have helped to slow down the effects of global warmin, yet still global warming is increasingly becoming a problem.

The methods of reducing carbon emissions are all controversial - some say that reducing carbon emissions is a waste of time.  However, the emissions trading program has seen great successes, and tree planting has replaced many ‘dead’ forests.  Even if planting trees isn’t always effective, it is another way for Earth-friendly supporters to help out their planet.  Energy conservation has been the biggest help in the fight on global warming, with governments offering big incentives to consumers for healthy decisions. Protocols such as the Kyoto protocol have made countries all over the globe realize there is indeed a problem and that something needs to be done about it.

As we look to the future, global warming is a formidable foe.  The preventions and actions we take currently could have a great effect in the future.  Reducing air pollution, carbon emissions, limiting greenhouse gases, and creating protocols will help ensure the Earth remains capable of supporting life, including us.