Tom at Radio Free New Jersey has a tall, beautiful oak tree in his yard. He found that the tree was casting a shadow on the solar heater for his pool, so he planned to cut the tree down.
Then he had in inspiration: Why not leave the tree alone, and sell its carbon sequestration services to someone out there who was feeling guilty about their lifestyle? He would do a good deed, and for that he would be willing to put up with a slightly cooler swimming pool.
So, he put an ad on eBay, hoping to get a bid of $420 based on his calculation of how much carbon the tree would end up sequestering.
Alas, eBay yanked the auction after a few days without really explaining why. Tom speculates that eBay secretly knows that carbon credits are a scam, and thus is not willing for them to be sold on its site.
In my opinion, it is equally likely that the eBay folks accept the concept of carbon credits, and saw Tom's auction as mockery of the concept. Which it was, of course.
Bravo, Tom, for giving it a try. Perhaps you could find a way to contact the Gore estate; it seems that they could use a little feel-good P.R. right now.
When I think of all of the trees I've cut down on my property for one reason or another, and think about people who are more than willing to part with their money in the belief that the act frees them to maintain their wasteful lifestyles...... sigh...... what could have been.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
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2 comments:
He ought to try craigslist, they're a little less particular about their posted items - and I think that their more progressive audience would probably fall for it.
Saw another BELIEVER being interviewed on Fox a couple days ago. He stated that we must save all the OLD GROWTH forests for carbon sequestration along with more understandable reasons.
Haven't they gotten the word that old growth DOES NOT UPTAKE CO2 AT HIGHER RATES???
CO2 uptake is for GROWTH!! Mature trees grow very little. Yes, unless the fellow PLANTED a new tree, selling carbon credits based on its GROWTH is a SCAM!!
The paper and wood companies that grow forests commercially actually are one of the few areas that should be allowed to sell significant carbon credits!! Those credits would be reduced by any harvested timber that is used in a way that releases its carbon back to the environment short term.
Of course, I want the CO2 released to continue the greening of the earth!!
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