On Fox Tonight

Catch me on Fox 25 News (Boston) tonight at 10pm talking about carbon offsets. Here's a primer to get you going:

Want Some Carbon With That?

You Want Carbon?

Built on Guilt - Carbon Offsets

(Update - Link Here.)

You Want Some Carbon With That?

Engadget pushed for change with Dell's Plant a Me for Me Campaign. I've wrote about carbon offsets myself, and I do agree that they draw on your heartstrings to give money to businesses to fix their environmental problems.

Do they help? In one way, it helps - when you drag a tarp across a landfill in South Africa, capture the methane and then set it ablaze, yeah, it doesn't go into the atmosphere. I guess that not my idea of offsetting carbon. Nor am I crazy about funding these for-profit business to fix the environmental problems that they created.

You Want Carbon With That?

Engadget has taken Dell to task over their carbon offset program, claiming that essentially it adds nothing to their product. Dell has a different perspective. It's tough selling the world's the most eco-unfriendly product.

Granted, Dell is trying to do right. They keep improving their overall program, although Keith thinks they need to get on the stick in Latin America and the Caribbean. And they do pass 100 percent of the money they collect towards the carbon offsetter, so they are not turning a buck on the deal. Finally, they picked two good offsetters - the Conservation Fund and Carbonfund.org - both non-profits with good reputations and low overhead ratios.

It's no secret that I think voluntary carbon offsets are a non-starter, and ultimately they will probably be damaging to the environment movement as a whole. The problem is not the mission - I don't doubt they reduce bad gas - but I don't want to see a carbon tip jar at the end of every online transaction, particularly when a lot of them are run by for-profit entities who acknowledge they take between 70 and 85 percent of every transaction. And with the rest of the for-profits not talking, one can only assume the margins are ridiculously high on this charitable enterprise.

Again, Dell (smartly) did not go this route, and they also (smartly) expanded their program so one can buy offsets without making a purchase. This breaks the guilty association between the contribution and the 'bad' product that so many of these offsetters rely on. But let's see if they can take the next step - 6 year warranties, for example. That would really set them out ahead.

By the way, you used about 2 cents in electricity reading this post. Want to send me a penny? You know, for the carbon.

Your Carbon Obligations

Hello, this is a message to inform the citizens of the world as to your obligations regarding global warming. The following will explain exactly what you are required to do to prevent this crisis.

Globally, there is only one treaty that covers this topic; it is called the Kyoto Protocol. Generally, this document is an agreement between governments to reduce emissions, and it has specific percent reductions that vary by country. There are two countries, the United States and Australia, that have not ratified this treaty. As such, if you are a citizen of one of these democratically elected countries, your personal obligation towards reducing greenhouse gases is zero. Please stop reading here.

For the rest of you, there is some obligation. Right now, your government is actively working with top scientists and heads of industry on a plan to reduce your country's share of the emissions. If by this time you have not been contacted by your government to address this issue, it is unlikely that you will be. Please stop reading here.

For those of your actively involved in the solution, you may be asked to do certain things. For example, you may be asked to reduce your energy consumption in certain steel mills, or maybe trap the methane coming to of your landfills. To address these issues, you may be given money or, alternatively, may be fined if you do not. Please abide by the laws of the country where you are doing the work. If you receive funds, please spend then wisely and efficiently on the work to be done. Stop reading here, and have your delegated employees read the final section.

If you are reading this section, congratulations, you are being asked to help solve the global warming crisis. You might be responsible for turning out the lights at the end of your shift, or pulling a tarp over the landfill you work at. Whatever the job, you will be paid for it; do it to the best of your ability. When you are finished take pride in the fact that you helped solve the crisis. Please stop reading here.

Built on Guilt - Carbon Offsets

Carbon offsets are making the rounds. The idea is to balance out the carbon generated by an electronic device by paying for an effort to reduce that carbon; the most common offset method is to plant trees, although you can buy credits through the Chicago Climate Exchange as well.Carbon offsetting is now a part of several green computing schemes. Dell has the Plant a Tree for Me, Via has the Clean Computing Initiative, Kudos IT Systems has something going, etc. Some vendors, such as Via, include the price of the offsetting in the product. Others, such as Dell , make the offsetting fee optional, but then use 100 percent of it to reduce the emissions.

There are a lot of issues here - the schemes are not regulated, the price and method of offsetting varies wildly from one offsetter to another, there is no agreement that offsetting even works. And since offsetting fees are essentially charitable donations, the model can be viewed as marketing ploy or (worse) a system to extract dollars from guilt-ridden consumers. This is similar to the indulgences of the 15th and 16th centuries, where the Dutch literally paid for their sins. Finally, the model encourages consumption, particularly for the rich who would rather pay a fee and slap a sticker on something than change their lifestyle.

The biggest point for me is that none of the schemes take into account the carbon effects of the materials that go into making the computer or chip, which is estimated to be up to 10 times the weight of the final product. This is far worse than cars and refrigerators, which only use one or two times their weight in raw materials. PC World is producing a machine that will in fact account for the manufacturing costs, which will supposedly be out in early Summer. I'm very interested in the price tag.

Any one of these issues gives me pause; taken together, they evoke a strange combination of confusion, anger, compassion, and weirdness. It's an odd feeling, like the one I had when I was asked to give for the Katrina victims or the 9/11 disaster. Pedantically, it just seems impossible that the carbon problem will be solved at $2 per laptop, and with the addition of for-profit intermediaries such as Terrapass, the situation is more confused; is my guilt being sold to the lowest bidder where they pocket the difference, or am I contributing to a valuable and worthwhile cause? If it's the former, and I think it is, I just don't care how many solar power plants they fund; having my feelings converted into a fiduciary instrument is just plain wrong, and having consumers foot the bill for every infrastructure crisis that comes along isn't right either.