Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Al Gore, I wish I could quit you

Right about climate change, right about peak oil. Is there anything Gore can't do? From Larry King last night:
KING: Gas prices -- we've only got a minute left.

GORE: Yes.

KING: Gas prices going to go down?

GORE: Well, I've seen a number of -- over the last several decades I've seen this happen several times, where they spike and then they do come back down.

But each time they go to a higher plateau. We almost certainly are at or near what they call peak oil, defined as having recovered a majority of the oil reserves at a certain price, affordability range. And so with the new pressure on the consumption side from China and India, if they come back down, they won't stay down long.

KING: What do you drive?

GORE: I drive a hybrid. Tipper and I got a Lexus hybrid. And we have a couple of Priuses in the family with our children. And I encourage people to make environmentally-conscious choices because we all have to solve this climate crisis.
Well, I don't love the Lexus Hybrid. It's one of these muscle hybrids where the engine's efficiency is really just used to give more horsepower. But whatever - Gore says he buys carbon offsets.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Mommy, where do carbon offsets come from?”

“Well, you see honey, when a major polluter and a consultant love money very much they express that love together in a very special way. And nine months later the consultant produces an extremely long piece of paper.”

Below the fold, find some links to first rate references on exactly what is wrong with offsets and carbon markets in general.

"Marketing and Making Carbon Dumps" (2005)
http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/pdf/document/carbdump.pdf

"The Sky is not the Limit" (2003)
http://www.carbontradewatch.org/pubs/skyeng.pdf

"To Keep the Oil Flowing" (draft, 2005)
http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/pdf/document/CarbConv.pdf

"Low-Hanging Fruit Always Rots First", in Trouble in the Air (2005)
http://www.unp.ac.za/ccs/files/CCS_ENERGYSERIES_1005_COMPLETE.pdf

"The Carbon Shop: Planting New Problems" (1999)
http://www.wrm.org.uy/plantations/material/carbon.rtf

"The Carbon Bomb: Climate Change and the Fate of the Northern Boreal Forests"
(1994)
http://dieoff.org/page129.htm

Gar Lipow