Carbon Offsets = "Ecological Indulgence"
John on March 19, 2007, http://www.verumserum.com/?p=926
Charles Krauthammer makes the comparison in a piece for
Time<http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1599714,00.html>.
[HT: Ace of Spades <http://ace.mu.nu/archives/219577.php>] I don't know if
he's the first to say it, but I wish I'd thought of it:
Remember the Leonardo DiCaprio and Al Gore global-warming pitch at the
Academy Awards? Before they spoke, the screen at the back of the stage
flashed not-so-subliminal messages about how to save the planet.
My personal favorite was 'Ride mass transit.' This to a conclave of
Hollywood plutocrats who have not seen the inside of a subway since the moon
landing and for whom mass transit means a stretch limo seating no fewer than
10.
Leo and Al then portentously announced that for the first time ever, the
Academy Awards ceremony had gone green. What did that mean? Solar panels in
the designer gowns? It turns out that the Academy neutralized the evening's
'carbon footprint' by buying carbon credits. That means it sent money to a
'carbon broker,' who promised, after taking his cut, to reduce carbon
emissions somewhere on the planet equivalent to what the stars spewed into
the atmosphere while flying in on their private planes.
In other words, the rich reduce their carbon output by not one ounce. But
drawing on the hundreds of millions of net worth in the Kodak Theatre, they
pull out lunch money to buy ecological indulgences. The last time the
selling of pardons was prevalent-
in a predecessor religion to environmentalism called Christianity-Martin
Luther lost his temper and launched the Reformation.
As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, a clear conscience the carbon
offset brings.Al Gore as Tetzel
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Tetzel>-I love it! 'As soon as
the coin in the coffer rings, a clear conscience the
carbon offset brings.' Then again, the money Leo X extorted from people did
pay for Michalagelo's work on the Sistine Chapel and some work by Raphel
(not sure if it paid for our masthead or not.).
Somehow I don't think we're getting that kind of bang for our buck. As
Krauthammer notes:
GreenSeat, a Dutch carbon-trading outfit, buys offsets from a foundation
that plants trees in Uganda's Mount Elgon National Park to soak up the
carbon emissions of its rich Western patrons. Small problem:
expanding the park encroaches on land traditionally used by local farmers.
As a result, reports the New York Times, 'villagers living along the
boundary of the park have been beaten and shot at, and their livestock has
been confiscated by armed park rangers.' All this so that swimming pools can
be heated and Maseratis driven with a clear conscience in the fattest parts
of the world.
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