simongr said:
Setting aside whether climate change is real or not - I am trying to minimise my imprint on the planet environmentally. So I try and conserve energy and want to try and minimise the cough that my existence generates whilst not living in a biosphere... I dont think carbon offsetting is that bad an idea - any push to renewable energy is not a bad thing...
Sound principles - I guess one of the best ways to minimise your energy use is to pontificate on internet forums - which rely entirely on fossil-fuel derived electricity generation for their very existence.
Your PC, the server on which the forum resides and the umpteen servers in between, the energy loss on the power and telco lines, the oil-derived plastics used in the construction of your computer and the associated paraphenalia, the environmental damage done to extract the gold, copper, iron, etc in your machine......
Buying "Carbon credits" is a bit like sending $2 a week to some starving kids via World Vision. It might salve the conscience of the Gammas/ Deltas/ Epsilons as they tuck into their third helping of ice cream for the evening (or board their second domestic holiday flight for the year), but it will do little to change a damn thing.
BTW: Oil counts as a renewable resource - it just takes a bit longer to do the renewing than some of the others. Of course, since energy (like matter) can't be created or destroyed, there's no such thing as a truly "renewable" energy source - even the sun has a finite lifespan.
Speaking of the sun, has anybody noticed what's been happening on Mars the whole time this global warming malarkey is gaining traction on planet Earth? Now what possible role could the largest single source of heat in the solar system play in influencing the surface temperatures on this planet....?????