kopia lustrzana https://github.com/thinkst/zippy
203 wiersze
8.7 KiB
Plaintext
203 wiersze
8.7 KiB
Plaintext
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United carbon offset disappointment
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April 27, 2009 9:08 AM
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I'm a big believer in carbon offsets (not so much the cap and trade game, but in
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the simple internalize-your-externality-sort). I talk about it in my Green
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Culture talk. IMHO, we all have an ethical obligation to offset our carbon
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footprint -- now. My wife and I have been doing so for a couple years. We're a
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couple months late buying credits for last year.
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One reason we're late (other than the obvious) is the insane complexity in
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calculating it well. I travel way too much. That's the biggest chunk to cover.
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But to calculate it accurately requires churning through a pile of flights. I
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could estimate, no doubt. But I want something more accurate.
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So I was really happy to see on the United page an announcement of a "Carbon
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Offset Program." What I expected it to be was a simple way to at least know what
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the total carbon footprint from your flights for some period was (after all,
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they have all the data), and ideally, a simple way to buy offsets.
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No such luck. United has simple linked to one of the million places where you can
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calculate a per flight carbon cost. It
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allows you to input total miles flown, but its Mileage Plus page doesn't give you
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total miles flown, it gives you the
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total added to your account (included bonuses, etc.)
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Looking forward to version 2.0.
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Posted by Lawrence Lessig on April 27, 2009 9:08 AM
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Comments (14) April 27, 2009 9:42 AM
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Peter Collopy: Dopplr has a nice carbon calculator built-in. You have to
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enter all your trips, but I think it's generally an exciting system if you
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don't mind the Little Brother surveillance.
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April 27, 2009 9:49 AM lessig: GREAT point. I do enter all mine in. Perfect
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solution.
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April 27, 2009 9:53 AM
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Padraic: Why aren't you a supporter of cap & trade? Isn't a mandatory
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scheme going to moresuccesful than voluntary measures?
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April 27, 2009 10:20 AM lessig: I favor a mandatory scheme -- internalize
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your externality. I am suspicious of cap & trade. It seems like a
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complicated partial version of that, created by the same genius quants who
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gave us the mess on wall street, that is designed to generate large fees
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finance types. My sense is for a simpler system.
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April 27, 2009 12:07 PM Padraic Ryan: Re: cap & trade - you shouldn't use
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the financial crisis as an excuse to write off all of economics. A cap &
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trade system worked very well at reducing sulfur dioxide pollution in the
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US, finance types and all. You're right that a carbon tax is definitely
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simpler, but there are upsides to cap & trade as well (such as the fact
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that the market will drive the price up, whereas a tax won't increase unless
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Congress wants it to).
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Re: your green culture talk, I think you are misappropriating the Gore clip:
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isn't he saying that your money would be better spent on political
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candidates and organizations that push for mandatory internalizing of
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externalities (changing the laws) instead of on carbon offsets (changing the
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lightbulbs)? My problem with carbon offsets and other voluntary measures is
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that given the finite amount of money, energy and attention we have to push
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for the environment, I feel like the opportunity cost of these measures is
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too high compared to policy-oriented actions, the citizen role that Gore
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referred. For example, Earth Hour would be much more productive if it were a
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global rally for carbon taxes; instead we de-politicize it and entertain the
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idea that voluntarily turning off lights will stop climate change.
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I'm a big fan of your work on IP and corruption, but I'm skeptical of these
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initial ventures into the environmental arena...
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April 27, 2009 12:17 PM mark: "I am suspicious of cap & trade. It seems
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like a complicated partial version of that, created by the same genius
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quants who gave us the mess on wall street, that is designed to generate
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large fees finance types. My sense is for a simpler system."
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That just shows you do not fully understand the cap and trade model....or the
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global financial crisis.
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April 27, 2009 2:51 PMCathy: When you book a route on United it tells you how
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many miles it will accrue, pre-bonus, for each leg. (I use it to calculate
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how many I'll get towards my premier status.) It's a tiny link they move
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around from time to time, but look for it near where the seat selection
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option is. You should see this on a screen before you purchase the ticket,
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and possibly also after.
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April 27, 2009 4:45 PM Brad Templeton: When I got to United's site it has two
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columns, one for true miles flown (sort of) and one for elite bonus. So cut
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and paste into your spreadsheet and it should be fine. However, it does show
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500 for the short haul flights, but I bet those are mostly L.A. so you can
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fill in the real mileage to L.A. on those, it should not take long. April
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27, 2009 6:03 PMYaacov Iland: I'd check into the effectiveness of carbon
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offsets, particularly tree plantations, before spending money on them:
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http://www.newint.org/features/2006/07/01/keynote/
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April 28, 2009 9:03 AM Jardinero1: The only way to reduce your carbon
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footprint, is to reduce your carbon footprint, period. Paying someone else
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to do something they are doing, already, does not reduce your carbon
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footprint one bit.
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If you don't believe that and still insist on paying someone else to consume
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less, then please consider paying me. My wife and I telecommute. We rarely
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travel. I ride my bike to the grocery store. We cook from whole ingredients
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and never eat processed or prepared foods. Both of our cars are high mpg and
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rarely used. They are both ten years old and we probably won't replace them
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for another ten years. I just finished insulating my house and installed
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high efficiency windows and HVAC. I keep the thermostat high in the summer
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and low in the winter. All the light bulbs are fluorescent, except for the
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dimmer above the dining room table. I removed all the turf from my property
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and replaced it with vines and perennials. There are twenty three trees on
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the property sequestering CO2 on a continuous basis. No motorized equipment
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is required to maintain my garden which is now over ten thousand square feet
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of CO2 consuming plants.
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I would gladly accept the sum of fifteen thousand dollars from Prof Lessig or
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anyone else to offset his carbon heavy lifestyle. In return, I would submit
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to an audit of my lifestyle and I would issue him a certificate stating the
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amount of his carbon offset.
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April 29, 2009 4:00 AM Eric the Red: Carbon credits: indulgences for the
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non-Catholic crowd. More modern, but just as dumb.
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April 29, 2009 7:18 AM pb: "we all have an ethical obligation to offset our
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carbon footprint -- now"
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There is nothing so dangerous as someone with an abundance of
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self-righteousness but very little knowledge.
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Carbon offsets 'harm environment'
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6378471.stm Tuesday, 20 February
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2007, 17:31 GMT
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Jutta Kill, of the Forests and the European Union Resource Network (FERN),
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was the most vehement opponent of the practice, arguing it probably did more
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harm than good.
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Carbon offsetting was "an unbelievably inefficient way of reducing
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emissions," she argued, and its effects were impossible to verify.
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In addition, "More than half" of the money given to companies selling carbon
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offsets went on research and administration costs, "benefiting not the
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climate but the burgeoning consultancy industry".
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"We believe it is worse than nothing because it creates the illusion, or the
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impression, in the public that action is being taken, while we are not
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really addressing the task at hand, significantly reducing greenhouse gas
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emissions," Ms Kill told MPs.
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Illusions are powerful around here, it seems. Professor - stop listening to
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your "intuitions" and do some basic research!
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May 14, 2009 2:45 PM Jason Sperling: It's nice to see feedback on the United
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program. I've posted your feedback on my carbon offsets news blog.
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Currently many companies are reticent to putting something in their purchase
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path as an upsell, just as they are reticent to putting anything in their
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purchase path. The cost for large companies to make any updates to their
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e-commerce sites is significant, another factor in keeping the type of
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program you'd like from being available. Additionally, there is a reluctance
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to share the data required for accurate emissions measurement due to
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perceived potential risks, possibly related to future regulatory
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concerns.
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The technology is certainly available. When the type of program you imagine
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IS put in place, the results have been very good. For example ShopGreen
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Merchant Reports 90% of customers 'go green'
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June 10, 2009 12:18 PM jason: check out this great new idea to offset
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http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/06/man-auctions-own-carbon-offsets-on-ebay.php
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Here's the link to the auction
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http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320381623555&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMESELX%3AIT
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