CALL TO ACTION | Chapter 3 What Oskar needs to change How he can change it
Exercise 36D Calculating my carbon offset and representing it visually Key Skills Success criteria
Some carbon emissions cannot be reduced. For example, in school the heat is turned off at the weekend and only comes on during the winter months. To cut the carbon emissions further, the heating could be turned off in winter too and everybody could wear gloves and heavy coats, but that would not be very practical. Carbon off setting is used when you cannot reduce your emissions any lower. A carbon off set is a reduction in carbon emissions or an increase in carbon storage by planting trees or restoring bogland, for example, to compensate for the emissions that cannot be reduced. Carbon off set credits are sold to companies who need to reduce their carbon footprint. Some environmentalists say that this is just ‘greenwashing’ as it does not lead to companies reducing their own carbon output.
160 How does carbon
Let’s take a simple example – you go on a return flight to New York for a family wedding
1.44 tonnes CO2 One tree
One tree will absorb about 1 tonne of CO2
2 over a life of 100 years
because the tree must be fully grown and because some will die it is best to plant 4 or 5 trees
but ... 6–8
I can calculate my carbon footprint, calculate how to off set my footprint and show that in a visual presentation.
So one return flight from Dublin to New York can be offset by planting 6–8 trees