Hi all, Climate Master John Fischer here with KLCC's Living Less Unsustainably.
During the pandemic year, air travel and its climate gas emissions have fallen by two thirds. If you are planning a trip in the future, consider buying carbon credits- or "GreenTags" now to offset the emissions of your future flight.
Carbon offsets are paid for by the consumer. Ten to twenty dollars per ton of CO2 emitted. The money is used to fund wind and solar energy, capture methane at dairies or landfills, fund reforestation, and other environmentally helpful projects.
Offsets are not perfect. If you fly today, your offsets will take seven years to balance your trip emissions. And offsets cannot solve the climate crisis alone. Only reducing emissions can do that.
While carbon offsets are often connected to flying because of the massive short term emissions associated with air travel, purchasing carbon credits for all your climate changing activities is better than making just a narrow sporadic commitment.
I spend about two hundred dollars a month to purchase daily life offsets for all my family members, their spouses and their children. Air travel - if it happens - is extra.
How do you know your offsets are real. How do you know if they work? Choose gold standard certified companies, and do some research.
I direct my funding to wind and solar electric projects. They produce carbon neutral energy to replace coal or gas fired power plants
Forest preservation projects often involve saving one patch only to have another unprotected patch cut elsewhere.
Dairy methane offset projects are among the most impactful, but reducing dairy consumption will make an even bigger difference.
Buying our way out of climate guilt is not sustainable, and purchasing offsets is not a license to pay to pollute, but carbon credits are a potentially useful temporary bridge to a lower impact future.
I'm John Fischer with KLCC's Living Less Unsustainably.
Additional note:
Hi Carbon Credit consumers,
I use Terracycle because I can direct my money to wind (which is not perfect) and solar (which is expensive), rather than dairy capture (which is more effective, but makes us feel that we can eat more dairy than the planet can handle). But I like the other offset companies who focus on energy production - like Sterling Planet and 8.3 Degrees.
Here is a link to a list that can confuse you but also give you options that best fit your desires.
https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/best-popular-us-carbon-offset-providers.php
Some day, this will all be required : ideally before it is too late.
Thanks for caring,
John Fischer
COpyright 2021, KLCC
