Well, there are ten days until the official publication date of the paperback Republican War on Science (August 28). And I have decided, based on the suggestion of an e-correspondent, to do a countdown here on the blog, adding a relevant new angle, analysis, or update every day. So here's the first:
I am doing a book tour over the course of September, and having just booked the travel, I can now calculate that it will require flying some 11,000 miles. Back in July when I flew over to London, folks really kicked my butt about the size of my carbon footprint, and rightly so. And so I decided that this time around, I would purchase offsetting credits. I've just picked up 20,000 airline miles--or 7,500 pounds of CO2--worth of offsets from TerraPass. (Thanks to Jon Winsor for suggesting this.) Of course I realize that all sorts of assumptions go into calculating just how many credits one has to buy to offset X number of miles in the air. But I figure that if I buy to cover almost double the amount of actual miles, I should be on the safe side.
Incidentally, let me add that I do not believe that individual virtue, alone, will suffice enough to solve the global warming problem. Without endorsing any particular policy solution, it's clear we're going to have to combine mitigation and adaptation. It's equally clear we will have to foster technological innovation and create incentives for greater energy efficiency, even as we also transition towards more renewable sources. These are mega-scale changes that cannot be effected by any single individual. But all of that notwithstanding, the London experience convinced me that I ought to be more thoughtful about my own carbon emissions, especially since I fly so much. So, this will be the start of my carbon neutral flying, and my thanks go out to all of the commenters who helped wake me up to this issue (albeit a bit late, I admit).
Meanwhile, the book tour itself is shaping up to be quite a blast--and a blur. Just added a night out with Drinking Liberally San Diego to the list....
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A very coastal tour - W and NE.
We may be reading the book in our science reading club, but not immediately as people are waiting for he paperback to come out first.
There IS life between Haight Street and the east coast.
What % does buying the credits add to your travel cost?
William,
It's a very small percentage, let's put it that way. I cannot give you a more precise answer than that. As background to this, I investigated the various carbon offset programs (see e.g. this piece in the Times). I doubt any of them are perfect but TerraPass seemed pretty credible to me.
As for those asking about the tour, a couple of comments. This question also came up on Daily Kos yesterday. This tour is not extensive as my last one, which essentially hit six big cities--San Fran, Seattle, Chicago, Boston, DC, New York--and then branched out into a number of smaller areas. This time around, I am doing two things--hitting the West Coast again, and then hitting a number of areas that I've never been to before (e.g., the Southwest). There was no actual plan to be comprehensive.
That fact notwithstanding, my travels take me around the country regularly so I have no doubt I'll pop up in most folks' area eventually. And I too am well aware that there is life between the coasts. In the last year I have spoken in Ohio, in Louisiana, in Texas, in Michigan, in Colorado...
Neat. Looking forward to seeing you in Seattle on this one, I missed the last tour.
William: Check out the TerraPass site--the FlightPass for 7,500 pounds of CO2 is only $29.95, and they send you a luggage tag.
Speaking of the landlocked parts of the country, just added an event in Ohio Sept 23
http://www.centerforinquiry.net/neohio/2006Conference.html
Are their Mooneyheads who follow you on tour?
Do they sell tie-die tee-sirts (and other stuff) in the parking lot so they can see the show?
You should have offset your impact with NativeEnergy, like Al Gore is doing. I read about it all over, and I guess the big difference is that NativeEnergy builds new projects and TErrapass just buys (and resells with mark-up) from CCX. Good thing you are doing carbon neutral tour but you could be doing it and helping new projects.
-KAH
Glad you are coming to Seattle. I'll be on the Bainbridge ferry on the 14th to come get my copy signed at Eliot Bay Books. Seattle has some great eats right around there btw., worth checking out.
Don't know what the Bainbridge ferry is but I am glad you're coming. I get to spend the whole weekend in the Seattle area so I definitely plan on getting acquainted with it...
Chris, I'm somewhat heartened by your change of approach to flying. I'll kick some more butt if it has that effect.
Douglas Coker
I hadn't heard of TerraPass before. I've been doing a lot of business travel recently, and you've gotten me to sign up for one.
Hi all,
Thanks for interest in TerraPass. Chris, I've been a fan of yours since long before I knew you were a customer.
Some good news: TerraPass just launched a partnership with Expedia that allows you to buy flight offsets when you buy your plane ticket.
And a quick note to Kaleb: the folks at Native Energy do great work. They're friends and occasional foosball partners of ours. But your description of the difference between the two companies is pretty far off the mark.
TerraPass funds a range of projects, including wind, biomass, and industrial efficiency. We do not, as you suggest, just buy carbon credits on the CCX. More importantly, our carbon reductions happen now, when you buy, whereas Native Energy's are many years in the future. Finally, we are the only company that is independently audited and verified. Our verification report is publicly available on our web site.
These are some of the reasons that companies such as Patagonia, Mion Footwear, and Participant Productions, the company behind An Inconvenient Truth, have sponsored greenhouse gas reductions through TerraPass.
Regards,
Adam