Monday, November 19, 2007
On Climate Change (Part II)
I like how most people go through life without exercising any critical thinking. This would include all of the people who purchase carbon offsets to reduce their CO2 footprint. I have given this about 8 minutes worth of thought, and come to the conclusion that either CO2 offsets are a scam, or global warming is not a problem. The math doesn't lie, folks.
Consider:
Carbon offset can be purchased for between $5-$40 per ton. This site is selling them for $10.
According to the EPA, a gallon of gas produces 19.4 pounds of CO2.
That means you can completely offset each gallon of gas you burn for $0.10 ($10 per ton / 2000 pounds per ton * 19.4 pounds per gallon).
The federal gasoline tax is 18.4 cents per gallon.
That means by applying a little more than half the gas tax towards carbon offsets, we could COMPLETELY negate the CO2 of ALL CARS IN THE UNITED STATES.
So which one is it? Is this not really a problem, or are you a fool for buying carbon offsets?
[*In response to your anticipated criticism that the price of the offsets would shoot up in response to massive demand, blah blah new entrants, blah blah technology improvements, blah blah economies of scale. blah. And don't lie to me, you didn't even think of that.]
I like how most people go through life without exercising any critical thinking. This would include all of the people who purchase carbon offsets to reduce their CO2 footprint. I have given this about 8 minutes worth of thought, and come to the conclusion that either CO2 offsets are a scam, or global warming is not a problem. The math doesn't lie, folks.
Consider:
That means by applying a little more than half the gas tax towards carbon offsets, we could COMPLETELY negate the CO2 of ALL CARS IN THE UNITED STATES.
So which one is it? Is this not really a problem, or are you a fool for buying carbon offsets?
[*In response to your anticipated criticism that the price of the offsets would shoot up in response to massive demand, blah blah new entrants, blah blah technology improvements, blah blah economies of scale. blah. And don't lie to me, you didn't even think of that.]
