Climate

How can it be that I can know the right thing to do, do the wrong thing instead, and still consider myself an intelligent being? We've all had that experience. I shouldn't eat any more of those fattening canapes, we think. I should not smoke. I should not take another drink. And then we eat the snack, light a cigarette, pour the drink, and ogle our neighbour's spouse, to boot.

If we understood why we act this way, maybe we could understand our wide-awake self-destructive behaviour as a species.  That's the issue that really concerns Dr. William Rees in the 90-minute interview we've just posted on the site.

“You'll be pleased to know that the emissions for your air travel to this conference have been offset by the purchase of carbon credits,” announced the Executive Director.

The delegate next to me leaned over.

“What language is she speaking?” he whispered.

“Futura mondiale,” I said. “The language of the world's future.” Actually I didn't say that, but I really wish I had.

Carbon offsetting is a scheme that allows you to cancel out your personal greenhouse gas emissions by paying someone else to reduce their own emissions. It's like an inverted bank account. If driving my car 1000 kilometers puts a tonne of carbon dioxide into the air, for instance, I can neutralize the damage by paying someone to plant enough trees to draw a tonne of C02 back out of the atmosphere.