Tilt

I tried Facebook out last weekend and asked a simple and direct question. Being that I have a lot of eco-minded friends, I was looking for some creative responses. Ask and you shall receive! So, here is the question:

What does everyone think about the concept of carbon offsets instead of just consuming less?

Sara Michener
Consuming less isn’t in the cards so long as we culturally worship capitalism, so Carbon Offsets is probably more politically viable. I get everything from thrift shops and spend most of my money on local, organic foods. But can you imagine if the president told the American people to buy less? He’d be shot the next day.

Alex Lo
I dislike carbon offsets for 2 reasons. The first is conceptual. Carbon offsetting assigns a value to pollution that is paid for by supporting something less polluting. That’s like saying it’s okay to litter as long as you recycle a certain amount at home. A good deed doesn’t really cancel out a bad one.The second reason is a criticism of reforestation. The idea of sequestering carbon in new tree growth is flawed. But that’s a long argument for another day.

Anyway, I’m pretty sure scarcity of resources and rising prices will drive people to reduce consumption in the near future, whether they like it or not.

Carol Westcott
I’ll step on a political mine and mention the great effect having smaller families would have for our planet.

John Shepley
Consuming less is a VERY capitalist notion. Who put 7 tons of steel in a car if they can use less than 2? Does an artist put 5″ of paint on a canvas? No. After years of (somewhat falsely) believing that energy lasts for ever and we don’t need to worry about the environment, we all need a recalibration to some degree or another; and the biggest consumers / wasters need more. Nuclear energy was going to be “Too cheap to meter”. But the successful capitalist will find PROFIT in consuming less energy, especially as rates continue to increase.

Carbon offsets are smelly. But maybe they’re a reasonable solution during this transition time while it sinks in with everyone that fossil fuels are not forever and we are impacting the biosphere by pumping, um, a zillion tons a year of carbon dioxide into it.

Stefan Schwarzkopf
Carbon offsets are a transitional thing, like hybrid cars — they help a little but don’t really solve any problems. Their effectiveness is that they raise awareness and get people to do *something* which should slowly lead to more awareness and real actions like consuming less and making better choices about what we consume. You’ve gotta teach folks to walk before you can expect them to run, much less jump…

Sarah Reed
Consume less! the ability to buy an offset for over-consumption doesn’t foster a sense of responsibility. quite capitalistic to buy a way out, as a way of damage control…

Mark Neustadt
Just a way to make a quick buck off of liberal guilt. Typical of Americans – don’t actually change your lifestyle to consume less, instead live your same lifestyle but feel self-righteous about it.

Do you have something to add? We would love to hear your thoughts and opinions on this topic!