RE: Help911!Kim, regarding the txt message you sent me from the JetBlue departure lounge at JFK.
I don't know whether JB has a carbon offset program or not. Google txt it or use the free WiFi to look it up. What I do know is that when even Tyler Brule starts to worry about the effect his air miles are having on the Greenland Glaciers its becoming a celebrity cause and not a cause celebre. That nfo's not on perezhilton, try globalgreen.com, they're the sustainable transportation managers to the Stars and I don't know if Edward Norton uses them or not. I think he's involved somehow in a supporting role. No, Kim, extinction for the human race is not imminent, we're like cockroaches, very hard to get us all. Don't believe everything Wolf Blitzer says. And yes offsetting your 'CO2 Footprint' by planting trees might help some too but then so would replacing that Escalade of yours. $50 to offset your flight? Thats half your ticket price. No I don't know about 'Thinkgreenoffsets.com'. What I do know is that while there may be some semi respectable offsetters out there, this is also the land of the Snake Oil Salesman so there are plenty of companies that will pocket your buck and do nothing with it. A couple of programs like etree and terrapass that can be actually trusted to put something in the ground for your money. IMNHO you're better off doing it yourself in your yard. The science coming in seems to indicate that the large scale planting of extra tropical trees for supposed carbon offset purposes might actually do more harm than good. It could speed up warming in the Northern Hemisphere where you and I both live. One or two trees in the yard can't hurt. You don't have a yard? Try a green roof. Urban heat island reduction. Co-op Board would never allow it...okay well how about buying a hectare or two of teak trees in Costa Rica or something. It would be like your own mini tree farm, you could even use it as an excuse to go visit the trees while they are growing up and you can count 'em and make sure they are there. As they say in that business auditing and verification are everything! Costa Rica is a pretty place too, stable government, nice beaches. A hectare? Thats like a big European acre, talk to you when you get back Kim, no worries. Lol. ;-)

Deforestation and Avoided DeforestationThis section addresses deforestation and avoided deforestation, that is areas of primary growth forest that have not been cut down or overly disturbed this is the last part of the Carbonators Series. ReforestationStopping Deforestation cuts CO2 emissions, cutting the world's deforestation in half could reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 3 billion tonnes per year or more. Globally it is estimated that 4.4 million trees are harvested or destroyed every day or 1.5 billion+ per year. Over 1 billion of those trees are not replaced. A concentrated reforestation plan with an emphasis on tropical regions could potentially reduce annual emissions at about ten times the emissions reductions that would be achieved during the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol.Initiatives on Forests and Climate are coming from the UK, the US, Germany, Brazil, New Zealand, Japan and Indonesia and are receiving financial support from such institutions such as the World Bank which will support new forest planting, work to limit the destruction of the world's remaining forests, and promote more sustainable forest management. Programs that promote sustainable forest management but also help to diversify the economic base of often indigenous forest-dependent communities, Almost 20 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions come from clearing the world's forests, second only to emissions from burning fossil fuels to produce electricity and more than all of the world's emissions from transport put together. Avoided DeforestationAvoided deforestation was not heavily weighted in the initial Kyoto Treaty and so has to function in tandem with other programs in order to constitute a CDM project which would allow these resources to be securitized and then monetized as carbon offset credits.   This will probably be corrected in the 2012 installment of Kyoto as standing tropical rainforests play a more significant role in the carbon cycle than their temperate counterparts. Avoided deforestation can also be paired with certain specified industries in order to securitize the carbon offset credit.   These industries include but are not limited to forestry companies involved in the harvesting and planting of timber resources, paper manufacturers, government agencies involved in reforestation, oil refineries and airlines.This kind of pairing functions as a [CDM] enabler and activates the carbon offset credit potential for standing trees (Avoided Deforestation).  It is calculated on the number of tonnes of carbon each tree can put back into the ground on an annual basis.   The weight assigned to tropical forests in these parings is likely to increase due to measurement based science results that have recently been published and are currently being considered. Having some kind of emissions trading scheme is a practical and immediate action that can be taken. Active reforestation programs functioning in conjunction with CDM pairing schemes create an active economic imperative for both preserving standing forests and planting new ones. Something few can object too even if they object to the details of various offset trading schemes that comply with the general outline of the Kyoto Accords version one. Version two will arrive in 2012 at which time the additional science which has come in will be taken into account along with a political update.
Nearly Carbon Neutral Transport

Say Goodbye!

Clean Development MechanismsCDM's can create a framework to simplify the develop of salable carbon credits. By directly allocating credits to some activities which reduce carbon output or remove atmospheric carbon dioxide it creates a more measurable system which creates the potential for the securitization of carbon offset credits. Part of the CDM system allows for a multiplier effect when carbon sequestration is coupled with another component allowing some systems with carbon sequestration potential that are not fully defined to particpate in sequestration programs. Implementation & VerificationVerification, auditing, measurement and definition. A carbon offset credit is a contract between parties. One has verifiable assets to sell and another has a need to take delivery. At this time approximately 98% of all carbon contracts are delivered to an end user. Various CDM pairings and variations on this theme create a non-standard trading environment which has lead to the establishment of several climate or greenhouse gas based futures exchanges which have created securities which correspond closely to standards already practiced in the derivatives market. One of these greenhouse gas exchanges, the Chicago Climate Exchange, was founded by one of the original creators of the derivative security, Dr. Richard Sandor of the University of Chicago. Futures-like exchanges for green house gas offsets seek to increase market liquidity by creating verifiable new sources of carbon offsets under the audited general terms of Kyoto. Greater market liquidity, contract standards and velocity will help increase market acceptance of this type of security leading to more widespread contract trading and a new profitable derivatives market where none existed before. Until a zero emissions state is reached, optimistically in 100 years or so, Carbon Trading will allow many countries and entities both civic state and local to securitize, monetize and trade their carbon resources once they have established proper title to them. This could create considerable unforeseen revenue streams that may have to be incorporated into development trusts to prevent fights from breaking out between various government departments on who receives these windfalls. The model of Norway's national trust for north sea oil revenues is a model of a National Trust system that 'works' while Gt. Britain's is an example of too free a market 'Laissez Faire.' Other more localized vehicles may be developed depending on how ownership of the carbon resources are adjudicated.Revenue PotentialOnce a recognized carbon credit is established it acquires the vintage of the year in which it was created. If not sold it accumulates vintages along with a concomitant change is price for each year that it remains unsold. If a carbon offset was created vintage 2001 for 1 million tonnes when the price of carbon was say $4/tonne and not sold until 2011 when the price of the offset had climbed to $20/tonne then the 10 years of accumulated vintages could be sold from the 'carbon bank' for 10 years accumulation at $20 million a year for ten years or $200 million with the accumulated vintages. Enough moneys are involved to make financial markets take notice. Size MattersThere are economies of scale in creating large projects that are carbon aggregators. A carbon aggregator is a legal vehicle that combines diverse carbon offsets into one large managed portfolio filled with different vintages and sized blocks of assets. These aggregators can be the tools which actively trade carbon offsets on behalf of their owners. Think of it as a kind of carbon asset or offset investment bank. Ownership
All in all much of the potential for these kind of carbon projects lie in areas that affect over 1 billion people. The ownership of many of the potential carbon offset rights has not necessarily been assigned by default to the people that own or live on the land.

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