The Free-Range Insane Asylum .NET


As a human being
I am not Carbon Neutral.

The electricity that I use
and the driving I do

is.


More than twice over.

I have an inherrant mistrust of the concept of putting money in a box to make something better.


I decided to see my purchase of Carbon Offsets as an investment; I treated it that way.

My offset portfolio is based on a rudementary understanding of the different levels of certification of Carbon Offsets. I learned that the Gold Standard is the one that offers the highest likelyhood of correcting problems over the near to longer term. The distiction that I learned about the Gold Standard is that it meets the original most stringent criteria (CDM) but takes into account reccomendations made by the WWF to ensure - and here's where and why you should do your OWN research... I was looking for what words to type: (less, reduced, minimized, no) wildlife impact... the word infront of that is important if you're going to be a critical thinkiner or are on a committee deciding these things... I admit to taking this as: GOOD AS CDM, WITH WILDLIFE PROTECTION BONUS.

I purchased two tonnes of Gold Standard Offsets.

- My electricity use is covered.

You may be surprised to know that CDM and Gold Standard (provided I remember this right) are not applicable to developed countries. That Thinking Globally and Acting Locally? Not gonna qualify for Gold Standard. It only took a simple explanation for me to understand why. Ever notice how us developped world (deforested, coal burning, know it all) folks are always telling developping countries to not take the same easy and advantageous path to prosperity? Yeah, The Gold Standard and CDM are there to help stop others from following our devistating path.

I also purchased one tonne of Offsets at the VER+ level.

- My driving is more than covered.

I did this because we have a part to play too, we spend much effort telling, much less effort doing. The VER+ standard meets all of the Gold standard requirments but the project can be in a developped country.

It may surprise you that tree planting does not qualify for Gold Standard (and by extension VER+) or CDM certification. That was one to wrap my head around - see inherrant mistrust.

Taking my mistrust and using it to fuel scrutiny and research, (at the "look at web pages for hours a night and show up late for work tired" level, not the: "took notes and writing a thesis" level), I also diversified which Offset Companies I tried to use. I said tried because there was easily a week of actively trying to purchase my portfolio frustrated by internal server errors. The second batch of offsets were purchased from a second offset company - just in case one company failed to deliver.

I purchased one tonne of CDM certified offset as part of my continued portfolio.

I purchased one tonne of VCS certified offset in a pre-packaged Global Portfolio.

And, while understanding the tree planting issues that keep it from being Gold Standard (or even CDM certified), I purchased a tree in Kenya.

I was going to explain that I have one tonne of VCS certified offset but I thought explaining that effectively, I signed on to purchase a single tree might put the proper level of humility into this.