Brainstorm Bits - Carbon Neutrality

Adam Lashinsky is running a good panel on the business of carbon reduction.

I love the idea of being carbon neutral. I am going to figure out how to make our family carbon neutral, probably initially by writing a check and over time by changing the way we live.

Comments

[cityhippy]

Hi Fred

Delighted to hear it...my advice to you and anyone is don't be too hard on yourself and accept that going carbon neutral is a transformation and not an overnight experience.

As I often say on my site 'being green is not that black & white' ;)

You might find the following site useful:

http://www.carbonneutral.com/

and of course you might find my own green lifestyle blog (http://www.cityhippy.net) of use.

Basically we (7 editors around the UK and growing) write about our own experiences as normal urban folks seeking a more sustainable life...without living in caves and wearing burlap.

Namaste

Al

[Jody]

Fred -
You might also checkout:

http://www.carbonfund.org

[Toby Murdock]

a great, easy way to get into being carbon neutral can be found here:

http://driveneutral.org/

here you can buy carbon credits on the Chicago Climate Exchange to pay for your carbon consumption at the going market rate.

it is a great, market-driven approach to safeguarding the environment made accessible to consumers.

[steve]

"The challenge for consumers is that there is no uniformly accepted standard for what constitutes a valid reduction in global warming pollution," said Daniel Lashof, science director of the climate center of the Natural Resources Defense Council. The exceptions, he added, are green tags carrying the Green-e certification, a seal of approval issued by the Center for Resource Solutions, a nonprofit group based in San Francisco that verifies that clean-power companies sell the amount of power they say they do.

That label, however, is limited to green tags, and doesn't apply to companies that sell a mix of projects. Those involving reforestation can be especially difficult to verify.

"There's not a whole lot of great tracking for building forests in Costa Rica," said Brendan Bell, associate Washington representative of the Sierra Club's global warming and energy issues program. "How do you know the same acre isn't being sold to a bunch of people?"

NYTimes, 6/25/06:
"A New Way to Ask, 'How Green Is My Conscience?'"

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/25/business/yourmoney/25green.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1

[Rocky]

Every time I wear my "Become Carbon Neutral" shirt it seems like a hundred people ask me what carbon neutral is. I've enlightened a lot of people! But get dirty looks from a lot too. (this IS Texas oil country, ya kno?)
http://carbonneutral.2truth.com

[hey]

Fred,

It's very likely impossible to be carbon neautral for you. An easy way would be to get rid of the beach house, travel, and stop sending the kids to camp. But then you're still in Manhattan and live in a climate with rather extreme temperatures (though not as bad as the midwest or Canada).

To be carbon neutral given your location, lifestyle, and work committments, you're going to have to simply write checks. If you want to get down to real details, carbon neutrality is useless. You should be carbon negative to have a real impact.

As always, we see that environmentalism is just a trendy fashion pose for wealthy (mostly white) people. Do somethign truly positive for the world, oppose farm subsidies, trade barriers, and get some companies started that can help people in Africa, India, China, or SE Asia. The real global pollution problem is charcoal and wood fires, especially the mass burings in Indonesia. These are also more easily fixed than some ma$turbat0ry twaddle for rich Manhattanites (mispelled to help cut down on the bots).

[Adam Stein]

Steve, thanks for posting the excerpt from the NYT article on accountability in the carbon offset industry. The issues raised are real, but also addressable. I posted a much longer response to that article here:

Accountability in the consumer carbon offset market: just what are you paying for?

And now for the shameless plug. My company, TerraPass, is the only retailer of carbon offsets whose transactions are audited and verified. We're audited by the Center for Resource Solutions, the organization cited in the NYT article above as the only "uniformly accepted standard for what constitutes a valid reduction in global warming pollution."

Check us out.

[Mahalie]

As a VC you have more opportunity than most to make an impact in human-generated carbon emissions. I'm not talking about funding hemp shirts, no, rather at factoring in energy efficiency in business practices of potential investments in addition to bank statements. It's not just good for the environment, it can be good for the bottom line.

Have you seen Wired's article The Ressurection of Al Gore? That's exactly the approach his investment firm is taking and he claims it paying off big time. Of course he pays to offset his carbon-heavy travel itinerary too...

[jackson]

What is Hey saying? That Fred shouldn't bother to care? Fred shouldn't blog about this? Increasing awareness doesn't matter because Fred is a wealthy white liberal?

Can you not be nice Hey?