by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report in 2004 indicated that United States forests sequestered 10.6% of the carbon dioxide released in the United States produced by the combustion of fossil fuels, coal, oil and natural gas. America's urban trees sequestered another 1.5%.
Terrestrial carbon sequestration is simply a forest's or grassland's ability to take in and lock up atmospheric carbon dioxide during photosynthesis over a significant period of time. Many CO2 producing companies are now concerned and voluntarily trading carbon offsets or buying carbon credits.
Carbon offset credits are now being purchased from investment funds and carbon development companies who have registered the credits from individual sequestration projects. Forest related projects come in the form of stored carbon from the manufacture of wood products and the reforestation of harvested forests.
The figures of above show in detail that we are producing, whether in the USA or other developed countries, more CO2 than can be absorbed by the environment, such as forests and grasslands.
Carbon Offsets and Carbon Trading, on the other hand, is a bad deal for the environment for this is nothing but indulgences for the big companies to continue with “business as usual” polluting the environment and releasing harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
As I have said already several times, and not just me, Carbon Offsets, Carbon Trading, and such like, are a very bad idea that only allow the big companies and developed countries get away with emissions on the backs of the smaller companies and poorer and really poor countries.
Offsetting carbon, by means of planting trees, for instance, whether at home or abroad, and those trees then being allowed too become carbon credits for those companies that they can trade with to permit them continue with pollution and emissions and hence those “things” are nothing but another version of the old medieval indulgences that were sold by the Church.
Planting and growing trees and forests should be done for the sake of it and for the sake of the Planet and not with any indulgences in mind.
© 2010
