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Editorial
ON HOT AIR
No, not the summer one, the other
one, that you have to 'offset'
with a few clicks and a credit card, so that your conscience when
booking an airline ticket, is well, cleaner, and so that the website
that offers you that opportunity can claim to be 'responsible'
(the new buzz word) as air travel is increasingly branded as an
environmental villain. In theory, planting a tree to offset your
'carbon emissions' seems a good idea, until you think about the
details:
- There is not enough space to plant enough trees on earth to absorb all
the carbon emitted, for the simple reason that trees emit carbon back,
and as temperature rises, they would emit even more carbon and that
would get trapped in the atmosphere in a vicious circle. - There is no
scientific proof that a tree planted in Australia can offset pollution
in California, which by the way produces 2% of world carbon emissions.
- Do you really believe someone will take your donation and then go
and plant a tree? - Human emissions are just 4.5% of all natural CO2
emissions, such as those from tropical waterways and volcanic
eruptions. But all this is peanuts compared to
the horror of Corporate Applications. The Kyoto Agreement, would
miraculously save the planet, as Countries and Companies would be able
to trade carbon emissions. Even if this was a sane proposition, the
ethics of this would be dubious, as the "Polluter Pays" principle,
really becomes: if
you can pay, you can pollute. Orwell would marvel. So countries that
thanks to recession are nowhere near their 1990 emission level, (e.g.
Bulgaria, Ukraine, Russia) can sell their excess credits to those that
are not so rushing to curb pollution (e.g. USA). Splendid, everyone's
a winner, not. As you can expect, a new market for pseudo-ecologists,
i.e. consultants, certifiers, bureaucrats and even derivatives traders
("insure your emissions credits against possible
devaluation"), has emerged. Verification of emissions is another
practical nightmare as common international or cross sector standards
do not exist for practical reasons, and when millions of dollars depend on a single sheet of paper, then you can imagine what
can happen in terms of corruption. Recent news is that the European
Union is probably going ahead with a E.U. emissions trading market
from January 2005 onwards. allegedly to enable the E.U. to reach its
target under the United Nations Kyoto Protocol on climate change to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 8 percent of 1990 levels by between
2008 and 2012. History will show if this 'market' approach is the way
to curb pollution, if the greenhouse effect problem is indeed a
problem. More optimistically, solar aircraft prototypes are already
being tested and in the future such aircraft or fuel cell-powered ones should be the norm. In the mean time, carbon emissions
should not stop you neither from going to work each day, nor
travelling once or twice a year to patronise a community tourism
project. And one more thing, that on-line donation for the tree
planting that you are asked to make? please save it, and buy a locally
made product from your hosts. And you will feel a lot cleaner !
Antonis B. Petropoulos, ECOCLUB Editor
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ECOCLUB.com Expert Member Presentation:
31 July 2003
"Ecotourism Development in Nigeria - Prospects &
Problems"
A Live Presentation at the ECOCLUB.com Live Chat Centre
by Mr. Samuel Segun Odunlami, Senior Lecturer,
Nigerian National Institute for Hospitality & Tourism Studies,
Bagauda, Kano
Date: Thursday the 31st of July, at 15:00 GMT / UTC
Venue: http://ecoclub.com/chat/
A short presentation to be followed by a Q & A discussion on
Ecotourism in Nigeria.
Please arrive early, as this is a live event and no more than 30
participants will be
allowed.
CUM GRANO SALIS: "10% eco-tourism"
"An international hotel chain announces that it will henceforth
designate 10% of its rooms for “eco-tourism.” How? By using
recycled paper for the stationery and menus in those rooms, among
other momentous steps. A GIANT METROPOLIS in Asia, the very essence of
an “asphalt jungle,” announces it will henceforth pursue policies
of “eco-tourism.” How? By creating small, pocket-parks in tiny,
unused areas of industrial blight. A Caribbean island proclaims it is
a champion of eco-tourism. Why? Because it has urged school children
not to throw their candy wrappers and other refuse on the streets.
Each of these is an actual example taken from press releases and
public statements, and highlights the hypocrisy that has enveloped a
worthy cause. A once-noble effort to preserve the fragile and finite
natural resources of the world, and the unique cultures that inhabit
it, has become a marketing ploy for many of the very companies that
have destroyed those natural habitats. Arthur Frommer, Newsweek
/ MSNBC News
One of the rare occasions where we read
something we really like.
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MANENT - ECOCLUB pdf edition ! For just EUROS 15,
you can receive the ECOCLUB, Adobe .pdf , printer-friendly edition, by
email by signing up
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