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"Emissions" has become synonym for "net emissions" in non-technical discourse. I'm not sure what to think about that: on one hand it can be confusing as you sai
by Denvercoder9 5y ago
"Emissions" has become synonym for "net emissions" in non-technical discourse. I'm not sure what to think about that: on one hand it can be confusing as you said, but on the other hand, in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter if someone takes a ton of CO2 out of the atmosphere and then re-emits it. After all, net emissions is the interesting number for climate change.
- joshjdr 5y agoI appreciate the original comment’s explanation- it’s helpful to understand how the marketing points can potentially obfuscate the real/technical points. I also think your feedback is here accurate, and beyond that would take the side of ringing relevant. If when they ‘re-emit’ they’re replacing what would otherwise be gross emission, that’s a net reduction, and a good thing. Is good the enemy of great? Jim Collins and many corporate managers would agree yes. At a global/societal scale? I think it’s probably more debatable, at least. I remember learning reduce>reuse>recycle and I think this falls somewhere in the middle which might make it an ethical conundrum; but unless we expect to the whiskey company to reduce whiskey production, it seems to me like we should likely applaud the effort.