by Liz
The other week I did the worst possible thing I could do as an environmentally conscience person. I booked a flight to Portugal. It was kind of a last minute decision as my sister and I have a week off and it was so cheap. After booking it, I immediately felt guilty. Flying is probably the worst thing you can do for the environment because of the humongous amount of carbon emissions. I have since checked how much carbon emissions my flights will produce, which is about 400 kg. (You can calculate your flight CO2 emissions here.) This large number definitely makes my stomach turn and makes me regret my decision a bit. I did purchase carbon offsetting however, but is that good enough?
Carbon offsetting is to compensate for your unavoidable carbon emissions by paying a charity or company to save carbon dioxide emissions in another part of the world. This could mean the money goes to planting trees, funding solar panels or setting up a wind farm. Big companies and governments do this to maintain their carbon emissions cap set up by the Kyoto Protocol whereas individuals can voluntarily pay to offset their personal carbon emissions. Now how do you know that your money is going to a worthwhile project? Check for the Quality Assurance Scheme for Carbon Offsetting logo (below). This means that it has been verified by the United Nations and the Kyoto Protocol. Click here for a list of links to carbon offsetting schemes.
There are problems with carbon offsetting though. Besides paying for a scheme that is not verified by the UN it also allows for people to pay off their guilt. What is better than carbon offsetting? Not needing to offset your carbon emissions. There are 4 things you should do in your everyday life, especially when considering air travel.
1) Calculate – First you need to calculate how much CO2 your household produces (calculate here) and your overall carbon footprint.
2) Avoid – Now that you can see how much your carbon footprint is, you can start to avoid big CO2 emitters. This can mean avoid flying (you try over land travel like trains) and turning off the lights and unplugging machines when not in use.
3) Reduce – Next you can do things to reduce your carbon footprint. This can be from better insulation in your house, energy saving light bulbs or installing solar paneling.
4) Carbon offset – When you have done everything you can do to avoid and reduce your carbon emissions this when you can offset your unavoidable carbon emissions. Just remember to make sure it is a UN approved scheme!
Sunset view on a past flight.
