What is this carbon offset game and how do I play?

I agree with J Cottrell.Mother Earth News -- an Icon of
independent living and individual action... should be doing
everything possible to FIGHT the selling of Carbon Offsets.It is
simply insane to allow this amazing scam to be perpetuated via the
Mother Earth News.The Earth has it's natural cycle -- for instance
-- why isn't MEN reporting on the THICKENING of the Antartic Ice
Mass?The planet reverses it's magnetic poles every so often, the
Ice Age was created by Tectonic Plate Movement, ocean currents
change and affect weather.We are not capable of beating Mother
Nature -- which should not be news to this publication. This
country is 99% unoccupied... as a pilot and extensive traveler what
needs to happen to to decentralize and give the shorelines up --
whether it is the shores of the Mississippi, the lowlands of
Florida, the lava flows in Hawaii with 200,000 homes in the path of
an ACTIVE volcano... why not just allow building of homes in the
center of the Truck Lanes of the national highway system?Rebuilding
the dikes of New Orleans was an incredibly stupid thing to do...
HELLO, the majority of the city is 7 to 9 feet below sea level...
We have such stupid thinking at work... everyone screaming to
rebuild New Orleans, so that monsterous pumps chew up incredible
energy, every second of every day, to pump out a city that is below
sea level, already destroyed, to rebuild it for the next category 4
or 5 storm to flood it again.You can bet that there will be plenty
of people offering Carbon Offsets for the continuing operation of
those pumps...Mother Earth News, be responsible and start pushing
hard but logical policies or become known as a tool of partisan
politics.I came back to MEN for solutions, not indoctrination in
sound bites that make energy hogs like Gore -- rich.

I still find it hard to believe that Mother Earth News is buying
into the Al Gore SCAM! While I agree that we ALL should do our part
to save energy (and the earth), buying into this scam is
outrageous. Scientist have proven that his "the earth is hotter" is
pure bunk. The earth has only warmed up less that 1 degree in the
last 100 years! Yes, we do have cycles where the summers are hotter
and the winters are colder but we have NOT had the predictions of
Mr. Gore come true. (Remember his prediction of MORE hurricanes,
etc.?) Just because he says it, doesn't mean it's true. (Does
anyone remember that it was Al Gore who was "wasting" tremendous
amounts of energy in his OWN home? Does anyone remember that it is
President Bush who has the energy-saving products in his home? But,
of course, you never hear about the our President's efforts to save
energy!) The earth will survive. I liked a lot of the comments. It
shows there are bright people other there who do NOT buy into all
this bunk! This is just a way to charge the U.S. citizens more
taxes!

OK. I have a carbon footprint. I am not exactly sure of its
size, but I know that it is there. What I would like to see is the
impact of real, everyday trade-offs. For example:If I wish to read
a newspaper everyday, how many trees would I need to plant in a
year. Or how many miles should I reduce my driving.If I drink 5
soft drinks a week in 20-oz bottles, what might I have to give up
to be carbon neutral.I recently started telecommuting from home
several days a week. Based on my average drive to and from work,
what has that done to my carbon footprint.I agree that contributing
$5 or $50 or $5M so someone else can pollute is just too abstract
to have meaning in real life.

You’ve probably heard these guilt-inducing buzzwords by now:
carbon footprint and carbon offset. Yes there should be
guilt-inducint busswords about this. This is not different than
someone who runs their credit card debt up and finding themselves
in a bind decide to use a credit consolidation firm then--guess
what they go out and charge more. By purchasing the carbon offset
we are NOT changing behavior. That is what is going to help us the
most is changing what we do and how we do it NOT buying penance. Al
Gore does this he has a HUGE carbon footprint but somehow because
he purchase some trees or whatever we should hold him up as someone
to model. It is time the buck stops here and we ALL take
responsibility for what we are doing and DO something not buy our
way out of something. Hey isn't that whatttt-I don't know um
politicians do?

I hear a lot of comments about what the government should do -WE
ARE THE GOVERNMENT. Go back and read the Constitution and the
Declaration. We created this monster and it is up to us to do
something about it not wish upon a star...We can's say oh I want
government to take care of us and then complain when it doesn't. We
can't have government take care of everything. We as citizens first
need to decide how much we want government involved and then decide
what we are going to do to make that happen. The government is a
huge bureacracy-but we created that because we wanted government to
"take care of us" when in reality "we should be taking care of us.
So we only have ourselves to blame for this mess and it is time we
rolled up our sleeves and started taking responsibility and not
pass the buck. Then next time you say government- stop-look in the
mirror and realize we the people are the government like it or
not.

Regarding carbon footprints... I recently bought an electric
bicycle and have driven 300 miles in the past month on it,
commuting to work. Now some may say, "Yeah, but the electricity
produced by coal-burning plants to power it??" It still HAS to be
less polluting than drving my car to work. Chilly in November? Yes.
My small way of trying to reduce my carbon footprint?
Yes.Recycling, wood-burning stoves, solar powered heating units,
'cycling' to work, all of these help, don't they? I am doing these
things and trying to make those around me aware of them as well. If
we would all do a little bit - driving less or combining trips,
cycling, or how about this radical idea - WALKING. We, and the
earth we love would be a lot better for it, don't you think? As an
added bonus, we would be sticking it to the people who find it
alright to charge us $3.00 plus a gallon for fuel... Happy
walking!SJL

Mother Nature is doing just fine. We, the people of Earth, are
the ones fairing poorly. You see, Mother Nature knows how to take
care of herself. Mushrooms are an example. They are seen growing on
dead trees eating them away into compost for future growth. Mother
Nature is slow to completely compost a tree but she has all the
time in the world. Mother Nature will, in the end, recycle Planet
Earth. And if she has to, she will do it at the expense of mankind.
Do what's right.

I don't have a problem with or feel duped by "playing the carbon
offset game". While I'm not one of the countries elite, or the rich
of the rich, I still know that every little bit helps, and the
choices I make can impact the choices my husband makes which can
impact the choices our parents make, and our siblings make, and our
friends make, and then their friends make and their families make.
As one person put it, the big-money will lose out to the majority.
If we all felt the need to change and all bought (and insisted on
buying) fuel-efficient cars for example, they'd make less and less
hummers, and more and more hybrids. "One person alone can run fast,
but many people together can move farther"PS - Read the book
"Ishmael" - it will revolutionize your way of thinking - and maybe
living. It did mine :)

I totally agree with Tparish. I wanted to mention that there are
large groups that are doing something. If you join groups such as
the Audubon Society and Wildlife Federation you will get occasional
notices asking for your help forwarding emails to government
official to protest things that damage the environment. A few
hundred thousand email make a difference. When the government stuck
their nose into regulating organic produce, they wanted to allow
things like sludge (toilet waste among other things). I've been
using organic methods since the first issue of Mother Earth and I
can assure sludge is not something any real organic grower would
use. One day I was shopping at Whole Foods when I saw a notice
asking support protesting that and other ridiculous things "our"
government wanted to allow. I joined in with more than 100,000
other people and as history can confirm, the more objectible
sections were taken out. That's not the only time emails have
worked. By the way, not all organics are really organic. I would
suggest you buy from local organic growers that will allow you to
go verify the methods they use. Anyone is welcome at my micro
farm.

Several years ago, a local senior planner, responded to my
development comments with "What's economics got to do with it?" The
reality is economics drives just about everything. We now are in a
world economy that competes for resources. Americans are also
biggest candidate for "The Biggest Losers". We are gluttons and it
is obvious to the rest of the world.Recently I heard that it would
take 5 earths to support the worlds population at the average level
of Americans. If true, it can't happen. We got our so now the rest
of the world needs to go on a diet. Hipocracy!Blaming government or
business is popular, but not the cause. Politics is about getting
reelected.....power. Business is about profitability. We vote in
elections and every time we go to the store.A $.50 gas tax would
reduce consumption, but would get you voted out. Everyone want
someone else to pay.Look in the mirror.wes hagen

I think there are a great many people who all want the same
thing in the end. A clean planet. We all have our different ideas
on how to do this. I believe that we need to get together, despite
any differences and become a force to reckon with. There is power
in numbers. Everyone just needs to remember the end goal.

It sounds good that we all get to gather and work for a united
goal,but if the dived populist cant get to gather now in lesser
matters where will it go?we may survive if it is handled state by
state person by person and the word is might.To day we see both
party's pushing us toward socialism. we fight over abortion,ones
sexual choice.What in the world are we concerned with these items ?
We are in a big pickle we do have something going on in our
environment we will run out of fuel,yet we have people who have
stop drilling for oil and gas.And other thing.This group of people
are the real threat.We can all live the mother earth way.let our
pollutions ride bikes and walk to work.Carbon offsets just
bunk.

Carbon Offsets only accomplish the same thing that casinos
accomplish. They remove money from people that want to feel good
for a few minutes, then they wake up and things they hold near and
dear -- are gone.So what is the real solution?ZPG -- Zero
Population growth. As people drop their bodies and move on, the
carbon producing population declines -- problem solved... reducing
population solves virtually all of our planet wide problems in just
a few generations.In Japan, each year a car get older -- it gets
far more expensive to get its plate renewed, this causes the
population to have more and more efficent cars or fund the
government to deal with the problems created by old tech.With ZPG,
instead of tax codes that give discounts for large families, should
be reversed. Yes, the rich will be able to have larger families but
I simply don't care.So much of poverty is based on the idea that
sons and daughters will support you in your old age -- that day has
passed. Carbon Offsets = SCAM = not good for the environment = JOKE
-- on you...

Before I comment on the carbon offset, I would like to say that
anyone who thinks global warming is not happening must live in
la-la land. I live in Minnesota, in an area that was zone 3 a few
years ago. I had tomatoes ripening outside until a week ago. Before
they would not have made it past early September. As to the carbon
offset game, I think this is a way for some people to make easy
money off fools. The problem can only be solve if we stop electing
millionairs whose only concern is making money and helping their
own kind get richer. As long as the government does nothing to stop
the major polluters the problem will not be solved. I try to use
and pollute less, as well as use sustainable methods for growing
food because every bit helps but I know that for the damage we have
caused and are still causing to stop, something drastic has to
happen. I hope Mother Earth (the original one) will continue to
step in and do something to stop us. I have no doubt that the
planet will survive after we are gone, the problem is how long will
we.

First of all I am a environmentalist who practices daily
conservation.The global warming game is a hoax, a scam, a con
perpetrated by a ruling elite who intend to use the taxes raised to
further enslave the "useless eaters" (that means the rest of
us).Peak oil is a scam to artificially raise oil prices. The oil
companies have made larger profits since the peak oil story, than
ever before in history.Do yourself a favor and look up in the sky
some day. Perhaps you will see what seems to be a contrail from a
high flying jet aircraft. Perhaps you will remember years ago when
these contrails lasted only a minute or so. Now they stretch from
horizon to horizon, and last for hours.Maybe if you see these lines
in the sky you will wonder why the sky gets muddy and slimy
looking.Perhaps also you will take the time to Google the term,
"chemtrails" and learn about the "open skies treaties" that enabled
this. While you are at it, google "HAARP".When are we going to read
stories of how the military dumps poisonous chemicals into the
ocean?When I see stories in the media about these topics I may
start to take seriously the environmental movement. This movement
had me hooked for many years.I'm glad I've opened my eyes to the
real truths of the world.There are a lot of good meaning folks in
this world and perhaps this website is included in that number.
We've all been duped all our lives.It's time we all wake up and
grow up.Thank you for your time.Robert Walsh

I feel that this is another political feel good political
correct bull.The earth is not going to die man does not have the
power to do that.But we are doing a good job polluting,And hurting
the environment WE will never solve the problems as long as our
government is directed by the very ones who are causing the current
pollution problems.Global warming is a political football today.
Going back about 30 years ago we were going to have an ice age,this
was the cry of the ones who are clamming that warming will dry us
up and blow us away.Follow the money trial, when the money drys up
so will global warming just as the ice age did.I do have a way to
cure the problem.FORCE THE GOVERNMENT TO DO ITS JOB. NOW. not
twenty years from now,pollution can be cleaned up very fast just
stop polluting.