Monday, January 21, 2008

Illusions of Absurd

The real and perceptible dangers of climate change is offset by the illusion of the most absurb and impossible market human civilization has ever seen. - Goumilra Ghosh -National Forum of Forest Peoples & Forest Workers

Pedro Moura Costa made $ 83 millions selling carbon credits through Eco Securities.

These two statements send shivers down my spine at the Prairie Sustainable Campuses Conference's Climate Change and Social Justice Panel. I've always felt suspicious about Carbon Credit dollars. Everyone seemed to be jumping on this bandwagon as a way to mitigate guilt for air travel and SUV's, but no one seemed to know where the money was actually going. Too many companies said something like "Credits can be used to finance carbon reduction schemes between trading partners and around the world." One presenter showed factories in India belching smoke that was recieving carbon credits from the UK to improve production.

One of the issues with solutions to climate change that take place in someones else's backyard is the loss of control and information and the potential for poorly reearched scams that are worse than the problem they solve.

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