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Does anyone have any views on buying carbon offsets through services like TerraPass and Carbonfund? I drive a pickup truck so I'd like to reduce my impact, but

• konschubert 8y ago
  I don't think that these services take carbon out of the air and turn it back into fossiles. I guess that they mostly finance re-forestation. Then, you have to ask yourself: Would the new forest happened anyways and they are just taking your money as a bonus? Is the new forest going to be permanent or will it be removed and re-forested again in 30 years?
  • thedevindevops 8y ago
    >Would the new forest happened anyways and they are just taking your money as a bonus? Is the new forest going to be permanent or will it be removed and re-forested again in 30 years? Perhaps, in decades/centuries a new forest might happen naturally. I should hope - if you're paying for it - that it not be permanent, carbon capture in trees happens fastest at the beginning of their lifecycle so by harvesting and re-foresting it functions as a renewable resource and has greatest efficacy as a carbon sink.
    • konschubert 8y ago
      If you harvest the wood and burn it/let it rot then the carbon will be released back into the atmosphere. Of course you might make furniture from the wood, but it will replace other furniture that then gets burned in place. A forest only holds carbon, it doesn't continuously remove it.
• jogjayr 8y ago
  > I drive a pickup truck so I'd like to reduce my impact You could...drive it a lot less :-)
  • starpilot 8y ago
    Or I could buy carbon offsets and still maintain my hobbies that are much easier with a pickup.