



United carbon offset disappointment
April 27, 2009 9:08 AM


I'm a big believer in carbon offsets (not so much the cap and trade game, but in
the simple internalize-your-externality-sort). I talk about it in my Green
Culture talk. IMHO, we all have an ethical obligation to offset our carbon
footprint -- now. My wife and I have been doing so for a couple years. We're a
couple months late buying credits for last year.

One reason we're late (other than the obvious) is the insane complexity in
calculating it well. I travel way too much. That's the biggest chunk to cover.
But to calculate it accurately requires churning through a pile of flights. I
could estimate, no doubt. But I want something more accurate.

So I was really happy to see on the United page an announcement of a "Carbon
Offset Program." What I expected it to be was a simple way to at least know what
the total carbon footprint from your flights for some period was (after all,
they have all the data), and ideally, a simple way to buy offsets.

No such luck. United has simple linked to one of the million places where you can
calculate a per flight carbon cost. It
allows you to input total miles flown, but its Mileage Plus page doesn't give you
total miles flown, it gives you the
total added to your account (included bonuses, etc.)

Looking forward to version 2.0.

Posted by Lawrence Lessig on April 27, 2009 9:08 AM



Comments (14) April 27, 2009 9:42 AM

Peter Collopy: Dopplr has a nice carbon calculator built-in. You have to
enter all your trips, but I think it's generally an exciting system if you
don't mind the Little Brother surveillance.


April 27, 2009 9:49 AM lessig: GREAT point. I do enter all mine in. Perfect
solution.


April 27, 2009 9:53 AM
Padraic: Why aren't you a supporter of cap & trade? Isn't a mandatory
scheme going to moresuccesful than voluntary measures?


April 27, 2009 10:20 AM lessig: I favor a mandatory scheme -- internalize
your externality. I am suspicious of cap & trade. It seems like a
complicated partial version of that, created by the same genius quants who
gave us the mess on wall street, that is designed to generate large fees
finance types. My sense is for a simpler system.


April 27, 2009 12:07 PM Padraic Ryan: Re: cap & trade - you shouldn't use
the financial crisis as an excuse to write off all of economics. A cap &
trade system worked very well at reducing sulfur dioxide pollution in the
US, finance types and all. You're right that a carbon tax is definitely
simpler, but there are upsides to cap & trade as well (such as the fact
that the market will drive the price up, whereas a tax won't increase unless
Congress wants it to).

Re: your green culture talk, I think you are misappropriating the Gore clip:
isn't he saying that your money would be better spent on political
candidates and organizations that push for mandatory internalizing of
externalities (changing the laws) instead of on carbon offsets (changing the
lightbulbs)? My problem with carbon offsets and other voluntary measures is
that given the finite amount of money, energy and attention we have to push
for the environment, I feel like the opportunity cost of these measures is
too high compared to policy-oriented actions, the citizen role that Gore
referred. For example, Earth Hour would be much more productive if it were a
global rally for carbon taxes; instead we de-politicize it and entertain the
idea that voluntarily turning off lights will stop climate change.

I'm a big fan of your work on IP and corruption, but I'm skeptical of these
initial ventures into the environmental arena...


April 27, 2009 12:17 PM mark: "I am suspicious of cap & trade. It seems
like a complicated partial version of that, created by the same genius
quants who gave us the mess on wall street, that is designed to generate
large fees finance types. My sense is for a simpler system."

That just shows you do not fully understand the cap and trade model....or the
global financial crisis.


April 27, 2009 2:51 PMCathy: When you book a route on United it tells you how
many miles it will accrue, pre-bonus, for each leg. (I use it to calculate
how many I'll get towards my premier status.) It's a tiny link they move
around from time to time, but look for it near where the seat selection
option is. You should see this on a screen before you purchase the ticket,
and possibly also after.


April 27, 2009 4:45 PM Brad Templeton: When I got to United's site it has two
columns, one for true miles flown (sort of) and one for elite bonus. So cut
and paste into your spreadsheet and it should be fine. However, it does show
500 for the short haul flights, but I bet those are mostly L.A. so you can
fill in the real mileage to L.A. on those, it should not take long. April
27, 2009 6:03 PMYaacov Iland: I'd check into the effectiveness of carbon
offsets, particularly tree plantations, before spending money on them:
http://www.newint.org/features/2006/07/01/keynote/


April 28, 2009 9:03 AM Jardinero1: The only way to reduce your carbon
footprint, is to reduce your carbon footprint, period. Paying someone else
to do something they are doing, already, does not reduce your carbon
footprint one bit.

If you don't believe that and still insist on paying someone else to consume
less, then please consider paying me. My wife and I telecommute. We rarely
travel. I ride my bike to the grocery store. We cook from whole ingredients
and never eat processed or prepared foods. Both of our cars are high mpg and
rarely used. They are both ten years old and we probably won't replace them
for another ten years. I just finished insulating my house and installed
high efficiency windows and HVAC. I keep the thermostat high in the summer
and low in the winter. All the light bulbs are fluorescent, except for the
dimmer above the dining room table. I removed all the turf from my property
and replaced it with vines and perennials. There are twenty three trees on
the property sequestering CO2 on a continuous basis. No motorized equipment
is required to maintain my garden which is now over ten thousand square feet
of CO2 consuming plants.

I would gladly accept the sum of fifteen thousand dollars from Prof Lessig or
anyone else to offset his carbon heavy lifestyle. In return, I would submit
to an audit of my lifestyle and I would issue him a certificate stating the
amount of his carbon offset.


April 29, 2009 4:00 AM Eric the Red: Carbon credits: indulgences for the
non-Catholic crowd. More modern, but just as dumb.


April 29, 2009 7:18 AM pb: "we all have an ethical obligation to offset our
carbon footprint -- now"


There is nothing so dangerous as someone with an abundance of
self-righteousness but very little knowledge.

Carbon offsets 'harm environment'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6378471.stm Tuesday, 20 February
2007, 17:31 GMT


Jutta Kill, of the Forests and the European Union Resource Network (FERN),
was the most vehement opponent of the practice, arguing it probably did more
harm than good.

Carbon offsetting was "an unbelievably inefficient way of reducing
emissions," she argued, and its effects were impossible to verify.

In addition, "More than half" of the money given to companies selling carbon
offsets went on research and administration costs, "benefiting not the
climate but the burgeoning consultancy industry".

"We believe it is worse than nothing because it creates the illusion, or the
impression, in the public that action is being taken, while we are not
really addressing the task at hand, significantly reducing greenhouse gas
emissions," Ms Kill told MPs.


Illusions are powerful around here, it seems. Professor - stop listening to
your "intuitions" and do some basic research!



May 14, 2009 2:45 PM Jason Sperling: It's nice to see feedback on the United
program. I've posted your feedback on my carbon offsets news blog.

Currently many companies are reticent to putting something in their purchase
path as an upsell, just as they are reticent to putting anything in their
purchase path. The cost for large companies to make any updates to their
e-commerce sites is significant, another factor in keeping the type of
program you'd like from being available. Additionally, there is a reluctance
to share the data required for accurate emissions measurement due to
perceived potential risks, possibly related to future regulatory
concerns.

The technology is certainly available. When the type of program you imagine
IS put in place, the results have been very good. For example ShopGreen
Merchant Reports 90% of customers 'go green'


June 10, 2009 12:18 PM jason: check out this great new idea to offset

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/06/man-auctions-own-carbon-offsets-on-ebay.php

Here's the link to the auction

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320381623555&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMESELX%3AIT





