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Making sure your carbon offset is off to a good start

By Jeff Hammersmark

© my dismay, no one took me
T= on the low-flow shower head
giveaway from weeks back—The

question was how was | able to run my
laptop off of wind energy without a wind
turbine. The answer is that I purchase
wind energy from Bullfrog Power, a
company that funds the: generation of
green electricity. This is related to, but
not exactly the same as, the concept of
carbon offsetting. With Bullfrog Power,
they physically inject wind energy into the
electrical grid, so it’s a very real purchase
of a tangible (more or less) product. With
carbon offsetting, people “buy” carbon to
offset that which they produce, so really
there is no tangible product. This leads to
people being suspicious, and rightly so, of
paying for something they never see. There
certainly are questionable carbon offsetting
companies out there, but there are also
many legitimate ones, and you shouldn’t
write off the concept of offsetting over the
few bad apples.

This is how.a carbon offset works:
Let’s say you purchase an offset of one
tonne of carbon, which Company X sells

14

for 20 dollars. What Company X actually
does is, using your 20 dollars, plus all

the other offsetters’ purchases, they fund
methods of reducing carbon emissions.
This could be through building a wind
farm, capturing emissions landfills burn
for electricity, planting trees or any other
method of concretely reducing carbon
emissions. These are things which would
not have occurred without the investment
of consumers purchasing offsets, and,
assuming Company X has high quality
offsets, your money is absolutely resulting
in a reduction in carbon emissions. Not all
offsets are created equal however.

There are many factors which
determine the quality of carbon offsets,
including additionality; accurate
quantification, permanence, and others.
Basically, this gives people a way to
separate the sketchy offsets (we'll plant
a tree in our backyard and charge you 20
bucks) from the good ones. The David
Suzuki Foundation has a great guide
to carbon offsets which rank the most
popular companies based on a comparison
of all these factors. For anyone who
is interested in offsetting their carbon
emissions, a resource like this, and plenty

of others, make it easy to buy confidently
without spending hours upon hours doing
homework on all the offset companies.
“But Hammer,” you say, “if people start
offsetting their carbon emissions, they’II
just continue business as usual, emitting
tonnes and tonnes of CO2 thinking they

_ can just buy their problems away.” Maybe.

Probably not though.

While it’s true that some people may
view carbon offsetting as a way to justify
driving a Hummer loaded with bricks
up the New West campus hill for fun,
consider a few things: Firstly, for those
who do decide to continue being huge
carbon emitters and offsetting it all, they
are still having a zero net impact on carbon
emissions. Approximately three hours after
consuming a bean and cheese burrito, your
carbon (and methane) emissions will make
you a bigger net emitter than Mr. Hummer.
Secondly, think about the head space
you have to be in to buy a carbon offset.
Chances are you’re already doing what
you can to reduce your carbon footprint,
considering the fact you’re willing to pay
money to reduce it.

Carbon offsets, chosen wisely, are
a very legitimate way of reducing your

 

carbon emissions. Obviously the best
way is to reduce them at the source, but
no one is capable of reducing their net
emissions to zero. Also, not everyone can
afford to offset all their carbon emissions.
So where’s the happy medium? Why not
offset the carbon associated with your
next party? One or two tonnes is more
than enough for an average party, and you
can let your guests know that their drive
to your place, the electricity you use,
and the food you eat are all having a net
zero carbon impact on the environment,
thanks to your snazzy offset. Not
everyone will be convinced, but maybe
after reading this you can provide some
gentle encouragement that you’re doing
something very real for the environment.
Visit www.hammers-mark.com for my
previous Other Press articles. You can also
find useful links, including to the David
Suzuki Foundation’s Guide to Offsets
mentioned above, and a carbon emission
calculator you can use to determine your
personal impact. And for those who may
be interested in helping Douglas become
more sustainable, keep your eyes open
for the Douglas College Environmental
Association in the coming months!