Are we missing the forest for the trees?
September 1st, 2009 | Published in Uncategorized
1 Carbon credit is supposedly the offset for 1 ton of carbon. Credits can be traded ,with the obvious advent of more and more carbon somehow they will become a trade-able commodity if I’m to understand it correctly.
We’ve just witnessed the melt-down of the financial world – which came about primarily through unregulated markets being allowed to run wild. But the underlying reason is the apparently built in human mechanism to let greed be the determining factor in deciding which direction to take. Which is a nice way of saying we all have it within us to act like selfish self serving assholes with no thought other than “make more money”
I wonder if the system of carbon credits is put in place as a lolly-gag attempt by the wheels of industry?
I wonder if the mechanism that rides through-out, the mechanism that makes attainment of profit and growth spin the wheels will still drive the machine.
It seems to me an almost laughable attempt at trying to put the genie back in the bottle. Yes things need to be done, yes we need to make changes but I don’t think these changes are going to alter the course we’re on.
Perhaps the answer lies with everyone of us on a ground roots level – not by waving responsibilty by way of a phantom exchange of carbon credits, and carbon banks and trading trees for machines, but by being aware and being responsible.
By not buying more than you need, by not building 5000 sq foot houses when you really only need half that space, by not showering for an hour, by not wasting water on gardens and grass in places where it wouldn’t grow without it, by not building cities in deserts, by not producing more than needs to be produced, by not fishing the oceans bare, by simply thinking. Maybe the ultimate irony is that as we move forward we need to go backwards, we need to adopt practices that we already had but with the addition of new technology. If a washing machine back in the day could be built to last for years, then a washing machine today that is more efficient could be built to last for years also, it’s a win-win. As we made and bought more we got lazy and flippant, our love of “shiny” things got in the way of our good sense. The marketing machine made us consumers and we consumed, but surely we are still capable of free will and common sense.
It’s a cultural change that will bring about a real shift.
