I booked a flight for Christmas a few days ago with EasyJet. After fighting my way through all the rental car , hotel and insurance offers, deciding about number of bags and priority boarding, I suddenly found a new tick-box: Carbon Offsetting. Intrigued by this new option, I took the time to find out what this new check box was about. On the "Fly Greener Environment" page I found out that, by clicking the box (and spending a few pounds more), you
"[...]balance the effect of the carbon emitted from your flight by supporting UN certified projects like Perlabi Hydroelectric in Ecuador."
(from: EasyJet)
It seems that the opportunities to save the world are rapidly increasing! That means that the world should be save! Or not? Somehow the whole thing reminds me of the absolution practice in medieval times. You could buy a letter of absolution from the church to save your soul and be free from the sins you've committed. Great!
One can't help to see parallels to the emission trade and the carbon offsetting options these days. If I tick the box, does the plane I plan to board blow less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere? Unfortunately not! Although it's good to invest money into "green" projects, it doesn't solve the problem itself, it just tries to counter the effects of flying (which isn't a bad thing, don't get me wrong!). But it seems to make people feel better about polluting our world! I can't help thinking that a lot of people seem to feel too good about it and just found a good excuse for not doing anything that really cuts down pollution. Something along the lines of: "I can drive the 5mins to the shops as I paid 5 pounds yesterday for the Brazilian rain forest!".
People always ask how I can cycle 20mins every day to my office and back. That's miles away!! Yes, it is! But only a few. And I can also stop at the shops on the way home. It really isn't difficult and one can avoid taking the car most of the time. I agree, there are times where you have to use one. But if we are honest, there are many times we could walk or cycle and therefore produce less carbon dioxide and even live more healthy (fresh air and so on!).
There are also many other little things we can do:
- Bring a reusable bag when shopping! Billions of plastic bags are used every day and this the most unnecessary waste of resources of all times! There are folding boxes you can put in your car, backpacks (if you are cycling ;-) ), jute bags that can be used for ages,..... the list of "green" alternatives is long!
- Try to buy goods that come in a recyclable container. Why does milk have to come in plastic containers? Glass bottles are reusable! In many countries now you can leave unnecessary packaging at the shops to force them to use less and recyclable packaging.
- Use public transport! It's a lot less stressful most of the times compared to driving at rush hour and it's a good alternative to cycling if the weather is bad.
- You can even save the world while jogging and become an Eco-Runner :)
I could go on for a long time! There are so many little things everybody can do without much change to our lifestyle. And you don't have to buy your peace of conscience by paying more and more for carbon offsetting. Paying for our climate sins seems to be the easy way out, but we can't buy a new earth if we've finally destroyed this one. And the "I'm only one individual in 6 billion, I can't change anything"-excuse doesn't apply here! If everybody is contributing even a little bit, the overall changes are huge! To say it with the words of a german punk band: "It's not your fault that the world is like it is, it only would be your fault if it stays like that!"
Ok, so...
recyclable bag with me? ...tick
cycled to university today? ...tick
£ 2.95 for a better conscience when flying home over Christmas??.....ah, whatever: TICK!
Take care!
Sven
