Selling Carbon Credits

[Guest]

Received a mailing this week about "selling my carbon credits", informational meeting in Georgetown on the 20th. I'll be out of town and will not be able to attend.

Checked out the website of the Chicago Climate Exchange, but I still don't have a full understanding of the program, can anyone shed any light on exactly what this entails?

I assume I received the mailing because I have done a few tree plantings on my properties in the last few years, based on info form the website, that would potentially qualify me as eligible.

Thanks in advance for any info you can provide

 

[Kansasdeerslayer]

If someone is stupid enough to give you money because you planted some trees and they feel guilty about their fuel consumption, take em for all they're worth.

 

[m_kat]

I sat in on a carbon credit informational meeting. Basically they will pay you for things that you already have done/are doing already. The amounts they pay would never cause anyone to change farming practices, plant habitat etc. They then sell these "credits" to big time polluters who can't meet the emmission standards. So the polluters get off the hook for spewing carbon into the atmosphere, with no help to the environment whatsoever. Its just a big scam/loophole that looks good on paper but allows pollution to continue with no consequences. As you can see I wasn't that impressed. At that time the US didn't recognise the program, the credits where all going to other countries. But, the middle men who are making the big bucks off the program where trying to drum up US support. I for one would never support it by taking there money. Sorry to be so long I was just really bothered by the the whole deal. Nothing like sticking it to old mother earth.

 

[D&D Flesheaters]

Well put. The EPA has standards for emmissions/pollution. Typically, companies are given so many "credits" which allows them to emit a certian amount of pollutants. Those who do not meet those standards (typically huge multi-billion dollar operations) can either "buy" unused credits from another company, who emit less than the constrains of the EPA, or pay huge fines.

This transaction of buying/selling credits typically takes place at the large corporate scale, but somehow they must be linking individual people into the big pictue.

Kinda sad some of these companies are willing to dig that deep to keep dumping pollutants into our skies.

 

[TimberPig]

After Al Gore started yaking about carbon credits I started joking about selling them at my place. I was thinking more of selling them to the hippies at the local college. They could rent one of my saplings for, say $50 a year, and on Earth Day they could drive their Prius out and get a picture of them hugging their tree (pics are an extra $20). For a little extra $$ I might even let them plant another one to replace the trees torn up by bucks. Then they would be frisked for any sheds they may have picked up and shooed off the property.

The whole carbon credit thing sounds like a big scam to me.

 

[Iowabowtech]

Classic liberalism at it's worst. The idea is to let polluting corporations and rich celebrity types have an out for their excessive practices. If you own 4 private jets and live in a 20,000 square foot mansion that sits on 40 clearcut acres, you have to come up with some excuse for your own resource usage and environmental impact so that you appear to be thinking "green". Total joke that's rooted entirely in politics and public image which are one in the same in this case.