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[GreenYes] Re: Recycle Offset Credits?


Title: [GreenYes] Re: Recycle Offset Credits?

Hi all,

Your points about a pyramid scheme and various other flaws in the carbon
credit process are important. But there is an even deeper flaw in the
whole scheme: when you accept carbon credit financing, you are
essentially selling your saved emissions to someone else who is going to
increase their emissions by the same amount. So it is a trade off: you
can avoid emissions (for example, by recycling), or you can get paid for
those emissions, and have no net gain to the climate.

cheers,

Neil



retroworks wrote:
> I met Paul Roszel in Chicago at the WR3A sponosored Recycling Today
> electronics conference (great turnout by the way).  In my opinion
> there may be no better advocate and expert on recycling in North
> America than Paul.  What he wants to do with the credits is to
> reposition recycling in the environmental discourse.
>
> I spoke frankly with him about the 'greenwashing' potential of all of
> these credits (as Mary Lou Van Deventer aptly describes some of these
> 'campaigns').  I have suspicions that the carbon offset credits could
> be a 'pyramid scheme'... imagine the same gas guzzler being sold from
> company to company, traded every week, each company using it,
> registering their footprint while they have it, and then selling it to
> the next company, and claiming a greenhouse gas reduction.  That's an
> oversimplified exaggeration, but when 99% of companies are not yet
> registered, it does seem to me that any company rich enough to upgrade
> their trucks will look greener than any company buying the used
> truck...
>
> Anyway, in regards to Recycling Offset Credits, I would trust
> RecycleNet to be very open to setting rules on the system which did
> not encourage abuse or greenwashing.   Paul was able to intelligently
> discuss the potential 'poster child fatigue" of environmental
> campaigns.  He is capable of discussing even the diminishing returns
> of 'zero waste' (where I have sacreligiously suggested that the very
> last item recycled, like a can from an island or from the bottom of
> the ocean, will be inefficient and do environmental harm).
> RecycleNet's goal is to keep RECYCLING as a relevant activity as
> 'green' activities (so labelled - did you know there is a green credit
> card?) gobble up more space on the daily news.
>
> I would encourage RecycleNet to continue with this, because the
> current media appetite for consumable environmental headlines is a
> given and if he doesn't put Recycling Credits out there, some other
> even less worthy environmental 'issue' could take our place.   As the
> Grateful Dead sang, "might as well be me".
>
> On Jun 19, 3:08 pm, Mary Lou Van Deventer <marylou...@no.address>
> wrote:
>> At Urban Ore, one of our managers is investigating this carbon-offset 
>> idea for our company.  Our attorney just asked me if the manager is 
>> head of the Greenwashing Department.  We're kind of ambivalent about it.
>>
>> Mary Lou Van Deventer
>> Urban Ore
>> 900 Murray St.
>> Berkeley, CA 94710
>> marylou...@no.address
>>
>> On Jun 19, 2008, at 12:00 PM, Jewell, Rebecca wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>> http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/technology/recycl...
>>> SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, Jun 19, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) ----Paul 
>>> Roszel, Chairman of RecycleNet Corporation (OTCBB: GARM)is pleased 
>>> to introduce the Recycling Offset Credit (ROCs) program. This 
>>> program provides a certified measurement system to recognize and 
>>> reward companies for their recycling efforts. RecycleNet will issue/
>>> award Recycling Offset Credits (ROCs) for each ton of material 
>>> recycled by participants.
>>> As a result of the increased awareness of climate change and global 
>>> warming, more and more people have become concerned about greenhouse 
>>> gas emissions and are developing strategies to reduce their carbon 
>>> footprint. Many companies, individuals and institutions have 
>>> implemented carbon neutral goals.
>>> The Recycling Offset Credits (ROCs) program is an effort to provide 
>>> a universally recognized standard to measure and certify recycling 
>>> efforts and to demonstrate the economic impact of the recycling 
>>> industry. Recycling Offset Credits (ROCs) may be used to calculate 
>>> an equivalent offset of your carbon footprint.
>>> RecycleNet Corporation invites any company, institution or 
>>> organization to participate in the voluntary ROCs program by 
>>> reporting materials recycled. There is no fee to participate and the 
>>> program is open and applicable to anyone in all stages of the 
>>> recycling/reverse distribution supply chain.
>>> For more information and to participate in the Recycling Offset 
>>> Credits program please visitwww.recycle.net/offsetcredits.
>>> About RecycleNet
>>> RecycleNet operates The Online Secondary Commodities Exchange. 
>>> Founded in 1995, RecycleNet created a powerful platform to 
>>> facilitate the international trade of secondary commodities. 
>>> RecycleNet Corporation enables trade on a local, national and 
>>> international basis with customized sites locating markets around 
>>> the world in many different commodities. On any given day, there are 
>>> in excess of $200 million in new items listed within our exchanges.
>>> Rebecca Jewell
>>> Recycling Programs Manager
>>> Davis Street Station for Material Recycling & Transfer
>>> A Waste Management company
>>> 510-563-4214
>>> Fun Fact: Waste Management recycled more than 5 million tons of 
>>> commodities last year; preventing the release of more than 3.4 
>>> million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
> >
>
>




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