Carbon Offsets

<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/09/business/09offsets.html?em&ex=1200027600&en=6f039bee328853cb&ei=5087" title="imagine">F.T.C. Asks if Carbon-Offset Money Is Well Spent</a><br />n<br />n<blockquote>Corporations and shoppers in the United States spent more than $54 million last year on carbon offset credits toward tree planting, wind farms, solar plants and other projects to balance the emissions created by, say, using a laptop computer or flying on a jet.<br />n<br />nBut where exactly is that money going?<br />n<br />nThe Federal Trade Commission, which regulates advertising claims, raised the question Tuesday in its first hearing in a series on green marketing, this one focusing on carbon offsets.</blockquote><br />n<br />nWhere is the money going? That's always been my question on these carbon offset claims. That and how do you figure how much carbon is offset. There is also talk that ranchers like me can sell our carbon credits for grasslands and not plowing land under. Again how this works is beyond me.<br />n<br />nYou will note that the article doesn't say the FTC says there is a problem with these things, they are just looking into it. Fifty four million spent on these offsets last year though. Sounds like it's getting to be big business.<br />n<br />nI don't buy any of this carbon offset <s>bullshit</s> business. It sounds a little too fishy to me. I need something a little more verifiable than somebody saying they are doing something like planting a tree and how does planting a tree help anything out? How does planting a tree offset my CO2 emissions? What would happen if a forest fire came along and burned the tree up releasing all of that CO2 in one fell swoop? How would that affect my carbon offset? How long do they keep track of this carbon offset? Too weird for me, makes no sense.<br />n<br />n<strong>I'm in constant search of new information and ideas, and I want to make the best of this short time that we're out here on this planet living this nebulous thing called life. And I want to plant a few trees along the way and nurture some minds and watch them grow, as people did for me. Joe Henderson</strong>