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Every year on or around Earth Day, the subject of carbon comes up. What exactly is carbon though? We reference it in many different ways, from reducing our "carbon footprint" to the carbon in the air and the carbonite that Han was frozen in. So what is carbon?
Carbon is the chemical basis for all known life on Earth. Not just life, but carbon is present in all materials, organic or otherwise. It's everywhere and in everything. Besides oxygen it's the most abundant element in the human body. Carbon is in the air we breathe, in the food we eat and in the clothes we wear. Carbon is in the video games (plastic from hydrocarbons), the comic books (paper) and the action figures (rubber, plastic) that populate our carbon-based bookshelves (wood). On the Periodic Table, carbon sits comfortably in group number 14, atomic number six.
Carbon was known about during prehistorical times, of course with less scientific realization about its nature. Carbon was known most familiarly in those times as charcoal and diamonds. Carbon was used to fuse iron into steel, and as the main element in graphite. The truth of all this is that carbon is everything and every where. So then, what the hell are carbon offsets?
The premise is simple. It all starts with carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide (Co2) released into the atmosphere by human activity (driving, flying, etc.) is considered a greenhouse gas and is slowly causing what we refer to as global warming. That theory is currently being highly disputed, but for the time being we'll pretend it's as troublesome as they (smarter people than me) say it is. Generally throughout history, trees, plants, and ocean life would suck in the carbon dioxide that humans and other forms of life release. Since the beginning of the age of industrialization, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has gone up 35%. Because of deforestation and the expanding human population, this has caused a problem as the oceans and trees can't keep up with the carbon dioxide being released into the air.
So we've got to do something, right, to keep the Earth from overheating and cooking us all? Well, without getting too much into the technology that is being developed — we're headed in that direction. Until we get there though, we can alleviate our ecosystem consciences by buying carbon offsets. When we travel and buy that airline ticket, we can purchase carbon offsets. We can go online anytime we are feeling that pang of guilt, say after driving to work in your SUV and idling in the parking garage while you read the latest issue of Green Lantern. The idea is that we will become "carbon neutral" through these offsets. We are sold an imaginary product, a service that we can neither view nor confirm.
Those selling carbon offsets promise that they will plant some trees, buy some windmills or improve the release of methane on farms. There are numerous other promises made to offset your carbon. However, it's unlikely that many of those promises are being kept. The carbon offset industry has become just that - an industry. At one time you may have actually been paying for someone to plant a tree in your name, or a whole grove of trees. Now, it's more likely that they are either already doing that and just pocketing your money or doing nothing at all.
Recently, the Christian Science Monitor and the New England Center for Investigative Reporting launched a four-month, global investigation into the business of carbon offsetting. What they found was disturbing to say the least. To sum up the best I can in a couple sentences (not to downplay their excellent reporting, but I have less time and less space to make my point) they discovered that the business of carbon offsets is close to a billion dollar industry with nearly no regulation, enforcement, measurements or even proof that carbon offsets are doing anything but filling the coffers of middle men and adding extra profit to the bottom line of large travel companies.
Here are a couple of the biggest irregularities found in the "carbon offset" market, from the NECIR / Monitor report:
The problem is that these carbon offset organizations are losing track of a key component of a carbon offset - the word "offset." In order to properly offset your carbon footprint, as it is, your money would have to go directly to something that does that, not just to a pile of money in an organization. That is how the theory of an offset works. The two actions would create a neutral result.
Hoping there may be some carbon offset projects that actually do what they promise, environmental agencies such as Greenpeace are yet to toss aside the carbon offset industry, as it supports their similar initiatives aimed at protecting and prolonging the environment. It also encourages people who would normally do nothing to help the environment to at least think about doing something — even if it is for naught.
The worst part about the carbon offsets is not just that they may be going to purchase nothing, but the calculations for purchasing offsets vary widely. According to a study done by Ecosystem Marketplace (the only such study) prices range from $1 to $47 a ton. To put that ton in perspective, it's about 2000 miles of emissions in a regular gas ingesting car. As a fan of math, seeing a calculation exist without any regulation or consistency is extremely disconcerting.
At this point it pays to remember what carbon is. As mentioned, it is the basis for all life on Earth. By all accounts, we leave a "carbon footprint" everywhere we step, at every breathing moment. To offset that would take a physical act, a tree consuming the carbon dioxide you exhale, a wind power plant offsetting energy use that would otherwise be coal, and so on. Yes, this takes money, but those things are already happening without your mysteriously destined donation.
The moral of the story is that you have no idea where your money is going, and while you may have lifted some falsely implanted environmental guilt, you haven't done anything yourself to reduce your so-called "carbon footprint."
You really want to give back to the Earth? Save the planet? Stop wasting your money and go outside and plant a tree.
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Image Credit: C. Silver
