Carbon Offsets: Band-Aids on a Gaping Wound

I have been well aware of Global Warming and eco problems since high school. I was lucky enough to go to a school where the science teachers spent time talking about real issues, not just theory and hypotheses out of textbooks. I have been concerned about weather and environmental changes for some time, so it’s great to see so many people share my concern and start making changes in their lives to curtail additional damage to the planet.

I have been personally making some changes in the ways I think, shop, recycle, and live to help reduce my personal carbon footprint. In my reading I was recently introduced to the concept of Carbon Offsets, where you give money to companies or funds that is used to plant trees, clean up the environment, provide cleaner water, and perform various other eco-friendly tasks. When I first read about it, it sounded great on paper. If you have to fly somewhere, you donate some money to plant some trees. How nice.

After Isaiah Washington was sent to rehab for the homophobic slur he used in an argument with Patrick Dempsey on the set of Gray’s Anatomy, carbon offsets stopped making sense. I know this will sound weird, but a carbon offset is like sending a homophobe to homophobia rehab, it is not addressing the greater problem. Having grown up in the black community, I can say with authority that it is far more homophobic (especially among males, young males in particular), than other communities that I have had the privilege of mixing in. A better solution would have been to put Isaiah Washington on PSAs talking about racism, sexism, and homophobia, and send him out to talk to kids and young adults about the issue across the nation. By slapping a Band-Aid on the problem and firing Isaiah Washington, ABC sent an angry black man out on a media frenzy to try to clear his name. In his talk with Larry King, it’s clear that he is in denial of his homophobia and is probably in dire need of therapy.

Carbon offsets, in my opinion, are going to enable lazy people who don’t want to change the way they live to continue consuming tons of fossil fuels and while leading a wasteful and dirty lifestyle. It’s also going to enable the wealthy to continue to live in a wastefully luxurious manner as long as they’re signing checks to various green charities. It also gives people a false sense of leading a green lifestyle. I am not going to get into any greener-than-thou discussions or arguments with people, but if you’re driving a Hummer or a Suburban, tugging your Jet Ski and Bass Boat to the lake every weekend all summer, and flying to remote tropical places a few times a year to “get away,” your carbon offsets mean squat to me. You shouldn’t be able to buy your way out of taking responsibility for bad habits that can easily be changed. You should have the decency to donate time and money to green causes in addition to altering your lifestyle for the better.

Tags: Awareness, carbon footprint, carbon offset, global warming, Green

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July 26, 2007 | Filed Under Awareness, Green 

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