I have excess CO2 sequestration available from my forest. If I gave you...yes free...a one ton one year carbon offset how would you use it?
Perhaps it is all about money? It is in this case also. But maybe not the way you think. As a small forest owner I own a forest that is representative of quite a bit of the privately owned forest land in the US. For example: "Non-industrial private landowners own 60 million acres of commercial timberland in the four southern states of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. More than 20% of this land – 12.6 million acres – is in holdings of 50 acres or less, a pattern we believe to be common across the South (Brown 2004; Hartsell and Brown 2002, Schweitzer 2000, Thompson 1998)." Title 1: The West Alabama Project: A Blueprint for Sustainable Forests and Sustainable Communities Most of these 50 acre or less tracts are unmanaged, unglamorous, and underappreciated so when walmart, costo or a housing developer comes calling the forest is sold and usually developed and the former owner of the forest now has a little piece of one version of the American dream...a fist full of dollars. Where does your hummer fit in? A one ton of offset will get you about 1650 miles in a hummer. But, you'll probably drive more like 16500 miles so you'll need about 9 more tons. If you use that hummer for its intended purpose then you probably are out in the great outdoors quite often. If so, go knock on doors and find out who owns the forests you like to enjoy when you're out driving. Then figure out a way to provide a private forest owner with a bit of income. The 9 additional tons you need is worth between ~$36 and $270 Chicago Climate Exchange depending on whether you look at the CO2 offset market for the US or Europe. If you throw in your house, business, airline flights and travel then you may need twice or three times as much tonnage. Anyway, I'll be happy to give you and 9 other folks a free one ton annual CO2 offset from my forest if you can demonstrate how you will support a forest owner in your local area by buying products, assisting with land management operations (translated-manual labor) or providing professional services like veterenarian, educational, legal or consultant services. Nope this scheme won't help much to pay for the hummer but it will help pay for something a bit less fleeting (hopefully) a sustainable environment for our children and grandchildren. Just let me know if you're interested. Even if you aren't go out and support your local farmers and forest owners.
Can you prove that your forest is actually carbon negetive? It could easily be carbon neutral. Are you thinning it regularly and offsetting fossil fuel use with the slash that you remove? Are you physically sequestering the slash and taking it out of the biosphere?
I'm glad I came across your post. I volunteer a LOT at the local forest preserves in the area, support the National Parks Conservation Association, The Wilderness Society, and Greenpeace. I do love the outdoors, and it's nice to know there are some people who'd rather see their land remain wild and free rather than sell it off to some corporate conglomerate, and turn it into a consumeristic heaven. Also, I'm glad you mentioned local farmers. There's a great farmer's market this saturday (Feb 16th) in Grayslake, IL for anyone who's in the area. Anyone who has the opportunity to go should definatly check it out! For more info on the Grayslake market go here: Grayslake Farmers Market For all you people who don't live by me, you can find local farmer's markets, local farms, resturants that use local food, and a lot more, check out: Local Harvest / Farmers Markets / Family Farms / CSA / Organic Food
So what's the carbon to dollar ratio and is it traded on the stock exchange? How many carbons per dollar and who's doing the exchanging? If you give me 1,000,000 carbon credits can I take that to the bank and change it for enough hard cash to fill my tank so I can drive around for another week or so? It works the other way right? If I fly in my big jet I can buy, with hard cash, carbon credits to offset my fuel usage. So why not, if I have an abundance of carbon credits why not turn them in for hard cash to buy gas?
I would use it by not using it. Economic gamesmanship (which is what carbon offsets are) is necessary to get the world moving in the right direction, but in the end, there really is not something for nothing.
Tripp, thanks for asking very relevant and practical questions. Since I am not a scientists nor a professional forester I must refer to those who are. First, I have attached a link to a ppt which was produced by the Alabama forestry commission. In the brief you will find on slide 21 that the author of the briefing says Southeastern forest sequester between 2-5 metric tons of C02 per year. View the briefing at: http://www.outdooralabama.com/powerpoint/Carbon Sequestration for LIP Mtg.ppt#309,2,Slide 2 Second, In another publication by the University of Minnesota titled a landowners guide to carbon sequestration credits you will find a table on page 18 which provides average CO2 sequestration amounts for a variety of forest types. My forest is in coastal North Carolina. The predominate stand age over 34 acres is 13 years, 7 acres 25 years and 2 acres 50 years. View the pdf at http://www.cinram.umn.edu/publications/landowners_guide1.5-1.pdf And interesting point you make is that to maximize CO2 sequestration a forest owner must use good forest management techniques to maximize the amount of CO2 locked in the wood of the tree. Additionally at some point as you can see in the Land Owners Guide a point of diminishing returns is reached which for common forest lands like mine equates to harvest. If you would like to see my forest management plan (an excerpt) please visit: Stewardship On the subject of harvest one will find that chip and saw utilizes the most wood of any forestry operation. Here in NC chip and saw trucks frequent the roadways enroute to factories which turn the chips into oriented strand board (OSB)...I believe. Whatever the wood product produced with chip and saw (or for that matter any othe wood harvest product) the carbon within the wood is sequestered until the wood product deteriorates. It is interesting that chip and saw is a clear cut operation yet maximizes the use of the wood product. Personally, I don't like chip and saw but the process as related to sequestration is interesting. Just too industrial for me.
I view offsets as a pledge to decrease ones environmental footprint rather than a liscense for excess. CO2 offsets could potentially provide a small income stream to forest owners and thereby help: Slow urban sprawl Improve water quality Maximize the efficient utilization of wood products Decrease noxious chemicals in the air Preserve wildlife habitat Offsets can also raise awareness of the importance of local forests which is the intent of this small effort. So, in my opinion, offsets, in the end, are really something for something.
Here are answers to your questions. Visit the website for the exchange the information is available there. I don't have $1 million in offsets. Yes, Yes. I'm sure you could do that if you owned 10's of thousands of acres of forest. You would contact a broker (again, see exchange website) sell your offsets and, as you stated, buy all the gas you want.
AH HAH, but I need a forest first. I've been to a couple sites that have you pay for the destruction of the planet that your vehicle makes and yada yada yada. I also laugh every time the commercial comes on about recycling and concerving so your carbon number goes down. Well it'll never go down, your impact starts the day you take your first breath and doesn't stop until the worms get done with you. But I digress. You want to give 1 ton of carbon offsets, it's no tangible. If I had a forrest, tangible, then yes I can sell my assets for cash. But you tell me, what good will it do for you to "give" me a ton of offsets? Do I get a certificate? Can you UPS them to me? The way your post reads it's something I can do something with, making it worth something, well how much? Can I give them to Gore so he can fly around and get another Nobel Prize? I'd actually sell them in as small a parcals as possible so I can get my expedition to the center of the Earth up and running.
I am definitely for preserving native land and ensuring that the small farmer does not become an extinct species. However, carbon credits are turning into political subsidies which will eventually be captured by the big land operations (like every other agricultural subsidy). In a seperate thread I gave two examples of emergent corporations attempting to cash in on carbon credits by dumping iron (rusty debris) into the ocean. In Brazil, native forest is being cleared for ethanol production since subsidies of ethanol as a "green" fuel make it worth destroying forest. For everyone (including you) trying to do the right thing with carbon credits, there are 10 people trying to figure out how to make money on it with no regard to the environment. Am I wrong?
100% correct, though I think 10 is a low number. I'm all for saving the environment but I think this whole carbon credit thing is a crock and just another way for gross polluters to feel better about themselves or give the appearance they really care.
Indeed. I'd prefer taxing to this sort of rubbish. It will quickly turn into an absolute farce (if it isn't already).
Well, interesting comments. Perception is indeed reality. I hope the information I provided had some utility. Thanks to everyone who commented.
