Carbon Offsets! Can't we just buy our way out of climate change?

So if they accept climate change and its implications, what's their plan to ... oh, it's carbon offsets? Well, buckle your shoes and then unbuckle them, because here's a big ol' portion of carbon offsets won't save us (but actually they're not bad things in principal, so pls calm down my-mom's-doggy-daycare-center-who-buys-carbon-offsets).

And just because I know you're hungry for that NAACP forgery thing I talk about in the intro, check out The Deception Dossiers and go to the 4th installment that starts on page 16. Shocker: it's even worse than you think [PDF Download]

Sources & Citations

Citations reference first appearance, without repeating for subsequent usage:

• Okay, so fossil fuel companies have been … ya know … up to a lot of malarkey for a few years now. There’s a fairly detailed list of the more scintillating stuff in the Deception Dossiers: https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/07/The-Climate-Deception-Dossiers.pdf (For the specifically identity theft parts, go to page 16 or dossier 4.)

• Here’s a quick primer on how the fossil fuel industry blocks climate policy: https://climaterealityproject.org/blog/climate-denial-machine-how-fossil-fuel-industry-blocks-climate-action

• Some background information on what carbon offsets are and how they are supposed to work. The Vox article is my fav I personally think they kick ass over there, but take your pick. https://www.vox.com/2020/2/27/20994118/carbon-offset-climate-change-net-zero-neutral-emissions

• Here’s a video explaining it so you don’t even have to read! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdW-6MXB0sI

• The infamous Propublica article by Lisa Song (top shelf journalist btw) where she just straight up travels around to Carbon Offset projects in South America and speaks with the people running them only to find how understaffed and underfunded they are. They’re doing the work, don’t get me wrong. It’s just hard work and people misunderstand the power of what they’re doing. https://features.propublica.org/brazil-carbon-offsets/inconvenient-truth-carbon-credits-dont-work-deforestation-redd-acre-cambodia/

• Lisa Song’s followup to her original article when people who liked Carbon Offsets went at her (this is the nature of good journalism and nuance, no one is strictly right, but people have different POVs from Lisa Song and they had some debates over offset efficacy): https://www.propublica.org/article/these-4-arguments-cant-overcome-the-facts-about-carbon-offsets-for-forest-preservation

• Companies going carbon neutral or otherwise trying to combat climate change:

  • https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/14/21436228/google-climate-change-pledge-2030-renewable-energy

  • https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/20/google-ai-greenpeace-oil-gas.html

  • https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/apr/16/shell-unveils-plans-to-become-net-zero-carbon-company-by-2050

• Carbon Majors Database that includes the stat about 100 companies creating 71% of the emissions: https://b8f65cb373b1b7b15feb-c70d8ead6ced550b4d987d7c03fcdd1d.ssl.cf3.rackcdn.com/cms/reports/documents/000/002/327/original/Carbon-Majors-Report-2017.pdf?1499691240#page=8

  • And a more readable version if you don’t want to hate yourself: https://fullfact.org/news/are-100-companies-causing-71-carbon-emissions/

• Warm Springs Forest Offset Project Data: https://carbonplan.org/research/offset-project-fire

• European Commission Report about carbon offsets not functioning in the majority of cases: https://ec.europa.eu/clima/sites/clima/files/ets/docs/clean_dev_mechanism_en.pdf

• Some good info about the Kyoto Protocol (the IPCC event that took place in 1997 and included the Clean Development Mechanism that eventually became carbon markets). https://www.cnn.com/2013/07/26/world/kyoto-protocol-fast-facts/index.html

• A real-live offset project in India: https://www.offsetters.ca/project-services/offset-projects/by-country/Bundled%20Solar%20Power%20Project%20India

  Names and Numbers 2call

  John Cornyn (202) 224-2934

  Cory Gardner (202) 224-5941

  Mitch McConnell (202) 224-2541

  Steven Daines (202) 224-2651

  Susan Collins 202-224-2523

  James Inhofe (202) 224-4721

  Bill Cassidy (202) 224-4721

  Martha McSally 202-224-2235

  Dan Sullivan 202.224. 3004

  Thom Tillis (704) 509-9087

  Lindsey Graham (202) 224-5972

  David Perdue (202) 224-3521

  Shelley Capito 304-347-5372

  Joni Ernst (202) 224-3254

  Cindy Hyde-Smith (202) 224-5054

  Elizabeth Warren (413) 788-2690

  Tom Cotton (870) 933-6223

  John Kennedy (202) 224-4623

  James Risch (202) 224-2752

  Mike Rounds (202) 224-5842

  Pat Toomey (610) 434-1444

  Ted Cruz (713) 718-3057

Episode Credits

Creator/Host/Writer/Editor: Rollie Williams

Cinematography: Evan Samuels

Theme music by: Gratis (https://www.youtube.com/@gratis3241)

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