The AP misses the point with carbon footprint analysis of Schwarzenegger’s Global Climate Summit
Last week the Associated Press ran a story about how the air travel to California Gov. Schwarzenegger’s Global Climate Summit, which is being held this week in LA, would “discharge more than 2,554 metric tons of carbon dioxide-a so-called carbon footprint equivalent to that produced from 424 cars driven for a year” [link may expire].
Now, if the point of the AP article had been to illustrate the surprising amount of pollution that is generated from air travel, that would be one thing. But the point of the article was instead to illustrate that Schwarzenegger’s “conference, announced six weeks ago, itself will be a sizable source of the gases blamed for contributing to global climate change.”
The problem with the AP’s conclusion is that the conference is, of course, intended to figure out ways to create a global consensus on how to fight climate change. Saying that having people travel to attend the conference is a “sizable source” of greenhouse gas emissions, is not only hyperbole, but it is just sensationalist reporting.
Under the AP’s analysis, it might be better if everyone just sat in their living rooms with the electricity turned off, so as to not emit any greenhouse gases. This type of obsessive analysis of greenhouse gas emissions was mocked in the NY Times recently.
If the climate change fight is analyzed just as a simple math equation, where everyday actions are given a moral value based upon a carbon math equation, we will never solve the problem. Such a silly approach will do more to discredit the efforts that leaders like Schwarzenegger are pursuing than all the Palins and other deniers/skeptics in the world could hope to accomplish.
Like with every analysis, it has to be based in the real world and on reason. And reason clearly dictates that emitting CO2 in order to attend a summit on how to decrease CO2 emissions is perfectly appropriate.
- Similar Posts:
- Carbon emissions not only increase, but do so faster than imagined
- Burps, farts, and other crazy emissions from livestock a major source of greenhouse gases
- Russia may not join global climate agreement
Comments
Please contribute to the discussion by commenting below or posting in the forums. No need to agree with the post or other commenters, but please be constructive and respectful.
-
Private Leaders
