Single sized carbon credit
 

As we all now know the earth is warming due to the discharge of CO2 into the atmosphere and that will eventually kill the entire world and then we'll be...well, fuct.

In an effort to aknowledge the importance of regulating and measuring one's own emissions I'm going to offer my total lack of driving a vehicle and eating beef while here in the Philippines as a credit for sale.

In the US my driving average is around 150 miles a week. That's 150 miles a week worth of bad, nasty pollution that normally did go into the air, that no longer does now that I'm here without a car. My beef consumption in the US is also included because we all know that cows flatulence is also a major contributor to the problem.

If you happen to be one of those people that are on board with the notion that we should be driving less and reducing our emissions, yet you don't want to give up your SUV and or other earth killing activities, I'm here to ease your guilt.

It's been difficult for me to put a price on this credit for the lack of real market for them but with a bit of calculation a figure has come to mind.

For the amazingly low investment of $200, you can claim my portion of emissions for yourself. The term is for 6 months plus, my stay here in Manila. It's true that I do use some forms of transport that are polluting but it's surely much more efficient than one person running one car alone without carpooling AND it's in another continent.

Yes, I know this is a very affordable credit but it's something that I would like to offer to not only the thinking people of the cellar but also to the earth.

There will be a certificate of authenticity or sincerity issued with the payment of the credit. :blush:

I'm in. Where do I send my payment?

Where are you? What city?

which is a discussion in a recent issue of Scientific American. It asks some damning questions such as is it a free market when government issues and controls the amount of a commodity?

Oh can I jump on your bandwagon too please Slang?
I share a small house and do not drive a car - always walk or use public transport. I haven't been on an aeroplane since 2004. I recycle everything possible and put on a jumper rather than turn the heating up. We have no air conditioning.

Owing to the poor exchange rate currently I will have to charge more up front, but will still technically undercut Slang by offering 12 months at $300.

I'm afraid I have the rest of you pikers beat. Whilst doing nothing more than sitting on my ass in front of a glass tube, I created a community whereby hundreds of people could enjoy each others' company without having to take many global, international flights.

The good news is that with each donation to the Tip Mug you get a return of 10 carbon credits on the dollar (20 on the Pound, 11 on the C$, 12 on Euro).

In near future I will be describing my new Carbon Pyramid, in which you can get carbon credits by creating and selling your own carbon credits and passing part of the profits back up the pyramid. There are no sales involved, all you have to do is talk to your friends and family about something they're already interested in... carbon credits! You can make as many carbon credits as you're motivated to make! Many people make over $100,000 a year! I know somebody who makes $250,000 a year and takes a month off at a time! Similar people are involved in my C.P.! So Ask Me About My Plan To Save The World!

A very affordable credit as well but......do you eat beef? Cows are a big problem in the world's air supply.

Not to be taken lightly though as we may be able to make this thread the ebay of single sized carbon credits.

that's freaking brilliant.

the amazing thing is that if you put a large decal on your truck window and stick signs on light posts advertising that you would make a serious profit. (prophet?) why? cuz we're 'merakins.

That would be a problem as my credit dictates that I don't have a car on this continent.

If you believe that we can make some seriously big easy pesos though, let's get working on it!

And, yes, I am serious. My credit is for sale.

Toad! How can we pyramid this?

I had some beef jerky the other day.
I am willing to take 50% payment in jerky if that helps.

lol!!! Yes- you are in a country full of environmentalists!!! LOL!!!

You are reducing the value of your credit SG! :D

Yes, but do they want to buy credits? That's the real question. :)

While I'm all for reducing our emmissions into the atmosphere, it's alittle much when people say we'll "kill the entire world". Rather fanatical. Even if we have a nuclear war (which is rather plosible in the next world war) the earth itself won't die. Many animals will become extinct, many many humans will die, and the world will be thrown into another iceage, but she won't die. While on the flip side, the planet is already facing global warming, and even if we stop everything this very second it won't stop completely. Manymany people will die, the ice caps will welt, and there will be lots of extictions, but the planet won't die. Look into the hystory of the world. The continents used to be in different places, there have been ice ages and global warmings, and it's most likely to repeat itself like it has done for millions of years. Take egypt. Parts that are now desert where a paradice only 3000 years ago. The earth changes, we just seem to be making it change at a rather alarming rate.

Cow have been eaten since before cars and fosil fules and factories, only when humans ruined the environment did things become a problem, don't blame animals since they produce it naturally.

About the cows, some bio-boffins in Australia have noticed that kangaroos eat the same food as cows, extract 10-15% more energy from it per kilo, and produce virtually no methane.
The first step is for Australian to eat more 'roo and less beef (much better for the environment for other reasons as well ... hard-hoofed animals do lots of damage to the Australian landscape).
The second step is that the aforementioned bio-boffins have worked out that kangaroos can do this because of the specific bacteria in their guts, and are now working to adjust this bacteria so it can be given to cows.
If this works we can have cows that need 10% less feed and produce no methane. Fingers crossed.

So you don't want to buy a single sized carbon credit. Ok. Tell me, is the cost too high or are the C02 reductions just not enough?

My credit is for sale, that's no joke. This whole arrangement is designed to allow people to dump their guilt about SUV emissions and the like. I know, you know, we all know that this isn't going to have an effect and that the earth will always survive us anyway.

It's the guilt factor and the ability for someone to brag that they have indeed made changes to reduce their output, they bought some effing credits the other day. :)

I have to drive my truck to the supermarket and buy a couple of steaks to cook on my charcoal grill next to my outdoor fireplace... I'll get back to you on that.

Are you happy Merc? You killed my carbon thread. :lol:

Serves ya right, ya carbon spammer.

Carbon Schmarbon... :p

Carbon Credits...
Over the last 20 months, I have taken taxis five times, been in shared private cars maybe six times, and taken trains and subways and the occasional bus everywhere else. I have even let my drivers license lapse.
I live in a very small apartment, very rarely eat any beef or other meat, and rug-up rather than use the heater.

SEND ME YOUR MONEY NOW!

All this will change radically as soon as I return to Australia (except the diet).
Public transport in Japan is excellent in the cities and viable for almost everywhere except really remote mountain villages and hiking trail-heads.
In Australia public transport is a half-hearted gesture used mostly by aged pensioners who have nothing else to do but wait for the bus.

What is the process for renewing your license or reactivating it once you get back? Will you have to retake the driver's test? It seems to be a pain in the ass in the US for this situation anyway. There are options for holding it "almost renewed" for a few months until you return to the country, but it's still sort a pain in the ass.

Send you money?? You didnt tell us how much your carbon credit is selling for! Someone out there is ready to fire off money for your credit and are getting annoyed that you have not set a fixed price for it. Please, at least list the price of the credit if not the payment details so that some mean ol' nasty H1 Hummer driver can ease his guilt with your credit.

And lastly....your situation is most suitable for a carbon credit sale. You were driving a big SUV (with a big gun rack on the ceiling),... grilling beef steaks and baby seals on the charcoal grill next to your outdoor fireplace....while inside your 6000 sq ft house with the AC keeping the temp 68F....puffing a cigarette wildly.

That makes you a good candidate. You were a real carbon criminal, now you're a carbon saint. :D

ya but...but...this is for the earth and it's atmosphere....and, and...all the little furry aminals and the baby seals. :)

I use to own an H2, does that count?

(checks the manual)

Why.....why, yes I believe it does.

How much are you selling that reduction in carbon emissions for?

On Driver's licenses:
People from Australia, Britain, N.Z. and Canada can drive in Japan on their home license plus IDP for one year. They can also get a Japanese license just by showing their home license and doing an eyesight test. I could have done this but I'm not planning to drive here; the roads are often very narrow, full of pedestrians, cyclists and shop's wares, and (worst) very few signs are in English.
Notice that these generous driving rules do not apply to US citizens - they have to do a practical test. It's true that in Japan they drive on the left, and so do most of the countries on the preferred list, but Canadians don't and they're allowed to drive here. I can only guess that the Japanese just don't trust you Americans. :P

I can reactivate my license as soon as I get back to Australia with no trouble. I've checked this out. Well, I've had my mum check it out for me. Thanks, mum. :)

I'd be willing to bet that a significant number of people have been killed in their own country while an American was driving on the American side of the road.

None taken.


You still havent set a price for your credit. It sounds like you've made quite a change in your emissions. Someone would surely like to buy it.

Well ... I was actually pretty low emission by western standards before I came here. Also I'll be heading back soonish and don't want to have to buy my emission rights back.
But really, I was thinking of calling for bids. Anyone?

EDIT: Actually, this gets to the bit that bugs me about existing carbon trading schemes. They start with the baseline figure being what you were emitting in 1990 or some recent date, thus giving the advantage to those who were already the most polluting. If I ruled the world, I'd have the scientists figure out how much CO2 planet Earth can handle and divide that amount equally between the population, thus giving each individual person (or country?) carbon rights. Impoverished people/countries can sell carbon rights, and high consumers can buy them. Still working out the details. :P

Probably drunk too now that I think about it.

Good luck with that, and gooder luck with getting two to agree on that number.

Looks like we are no closer... lets not cry over it.

Floods of tears as climate change 'hard man' breaks down at summit
By MARTIN DELGADO - More by this author »

Last updated at 00:13am on 16th December 2007

Comments (6)

He is known as the "hard man" of climate-change negotiation.

But after 12 exhausting days of trying to reach a worldwide agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, it was suddenly all too much for Yvo de Boer.

As the 200-nation Bali conference wrangled over a minor procedural matter, the Dutch diplomat in charge of the talks burst into tears and had to be led away by colleagues.

Moments earlier, Mr de Boer had been warning delegates that failure to reach an agreement on global warming could "plunge the world into conflict".

Officials from China, which feels Western countries should do more to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, accused UN negotiators of ignoring conference protocol.

Mr de Boer, distinctively dressed in a floral shirt, stepped up to the microphone to defend his staff - only to find that the words would no longer come.

As his unfinished sentences trailed away, he broke down and walked off the platform to supportive applause.

"He wasn't just wiping his eyes, he was in floods of tears," said one observer.

"Three colleagues - one of them a woman - formed a protective group around him and escorted him out of the hall. It was all very dramatic."

Mr de Boer's breakdown came after nearly a fortnight of squabbling over proposals to cut carbon emissions.

The European Union went to the conference demanding that industrialised nations commit to cuts in CO2 emissions of 25-40 per cent by 2020, a stance which was strongly opposed by the US, Canada and Japan.

America's representatives had also been jeered for insisting on firmer commitments from developing countries --despite President Bush's refusal to sign up to the previous targets laid down in the Kyoto Protocol in 2001.

In the end, a compromise was reached with a text that did not mention specific targets but acknowledged that "deep cuts in global emissions will be required".

A wave of relief swept the hall as US delegation chief Paula Dobriansky finally declared: "The United States is very committed to this effort and just wants to really ensure we all act together.

"With that, Mr Chairman, let me say to you we will go forward and join consensus."

The resulting treaty, known as the "Bali road map", sets in motion a two-year process of negotiations designed to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

Under the deal, a new pact will be agreed at a meeting in Copenhagen in 2009.

By then, members of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change - the organisation of which de Boer is executive secretary - should have agreed on a comprehensive plan involving wealthy and developing nations.

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn hailed the Bali deal as "an historic breakthrough" and a "huge step forward" in tackling climate change.

But Prime Minister Gordon Brown sounded a note of caution. "The Bali road map agreed today is just the first step," he said. "Now begins the hardest work."

The deal will come as a relief to Mr de Boer, who is known in the Netherlands for his passionate advocacy on the subject.

His reputation as an incisive --and tireless - negotiator has earned him the "hard man" tag.

However, former colleagues said his behaviour in Bali was not entirely out of character.

Political adviser Matthijs Spits said: "We Dutch can become quite emotional --surprisingly so for other nations who think we are cold."

I guess this means no one wants to pay me for my credit. :bawling:

I'm having a Christmas/Winter Break sale on my credit! Fifty percent off all my carbon credits, instant savings! This wont last long!

Step right up! :lol:

I know someone who's making millions off carbon credits. He's even won the Nobel Prize and an Academy Award!

That's right, I'm a rockstar over carbon. And I'm richer because of it too.

Things could not possibly get better.

And for anyone that thinks that Bill is all that much smarter than I am....take another look. ;)