Carbon Offsets

Questions have been raised about Al Gore's energy consumption, already very high and increasing dramatically since his movie came out. The former VP's response is that, while the VP's emissions are certainly high, he compensates by purchasing "carbon offsets", which is essentially planting trees. Captain's Quarters describes these purchases by saying, "He's using a modern form of indulgences in order to avoid doing the penance that global-warming activism demands of others."

ThinkProgress complains that the right doesn't understand the concept of carbon offsets. Maybe. But what the environmental lobby doesn't understand is the contradictory message being sent out by giving a pass on emissions so long as you plant trees. The message to the average American is, make big lifestyle changes. Give up your inefficient cars, live in a home that is colder in the winter and warmer in the summer, ride public transportation whenever possible, etc. But, to the more well-off, don't make any changes. Don't give up anything. Just buy offsets. From a strict statistical point of view, the net results on carbon emissions are, presumably, the same. But it's still a pass given to the wealthy.

The Right is often portrayed as wanting tax cuts for the wealthy. That's a constant theme whenever tax code changes are brought up. But isn't the environment lobby doing the same thing, in giving a lifestyle change pass to the wealthy? What's worse, the wealthy who are getting the pass are, per capita, probably far worse emission offenders than the middle class. They live in bigger houses, drive more emission-hostile cars and SUV's, jet around more often in private planes than we do, etc. So the worst offenders also get the pass on actually having to actually make changes.

Politically, this is just not a good strategy. The environment lobby has tunnel vision about global warming, so they want net carbon emissions down. What they don't seem to grasp is that doing so would have a big impact on things like the economy and people's lifestyle. That's the primary reason so many people are resistant to the global warming message. If they want to be taken more seriously, stop giving passes to the wealthy. People would probably be much more receptive to Gore if he implemented the same lifestyle changes he demands others make.