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Hot Air Emitted by Climate Summit Equals 20,000 Cars


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Government officials and activists flying to Bali, Indonesia, for the United Nations meeting on climate change will cause as much pollution as 20,000 cars in a year.

 

The delegates each will produce an average 4.07 metric tons of carbon dioxide, or CO2, to reach the resort island 950 kilometers (600 miles) from Jakarta, according to estimates e- mailed to Bloomberg by the UN agency holding the conference.

 

Some of the 187 nations participating in the two-week forum promised to offset their so-called carbon footprint by planting trees or buying emission credits. The symbolic actions won't help stop global warming, some scientists say.

 

``It's very hard for the public to understand that you come together with so many people to a very distant place and cause a lot of emissions, and at the same time talk about emission reductions,'' Artur Runge-Metzger, head of climate strategy for the European Commission, said yesterday in an interview in Bali, adding that he had offset his own emissions.

 

Carbon dioxide is the main greenhouse gas responsible for the higher temperatures that are causing a surge in sea levels and an increased risk of droughts and floods, according to UN reports. The goal of the Bali meeting is a deadline for a new international treaty to limit emissions after the current accord, called the Kyoto Protocol, expires in 2012.

 

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the conference organizer, failed to get governments to include offsetting projects in the group's budget, said Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the convention. Some of the 10,000 attendees to this year's meeting, held in air-conditioned rooms at the tropical beach resort, planned their own projects.

 

Proposals Abound

 

Indonesia will plant 79 million trees to offset the entire conference's emissions, Emil Salim, head of the host country's delegation, told reporters yesterday in Bali. The Asian nation is investigating how to develop its tree-planting activity to ensure a lasting offset, said Amanda Katili, special assistant to Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar.

 

``We have to know where the trees will be planted and make sure that they grow and not be cut down until they make enough carbon stock,'' Katili said in an interview.

 

The U.K.'s 40-person team will have their emissions neutralized through a central government fund, a spokeswoman for the country's environment department said.

 

EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas and three of his staff are buying so-called carbon credits, each representing a reduction of a ton of carbon dioxide, on the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, commission spokeswoman Barbara Helfferich said in a telephone interview.

 

$132 `Out of Pocket'

 

``I'm paying out of my own pocket, and some individuals will also offset,'' said Helfferich, adding she's spending about 90 euros ($132).

 

The U.S. won't compensate for the emissions of its delegates because ``we feel the best use of taxpayer dollars is for technology advancement, not purchasing carbon offsets,'' said Kristen Hellmer, a spokeswoman for the delegation.

 

The environmental group WWF International, known in the U.S. as the World Wildlife Fund, is also making sure the visit to Bali by about 80 of its workers is carbon-neutral, according to Martin Hiller, a spokesman for the group's climate change program.

 

``Our flight emissions are equivalent to about half an hour's emissions from a normal coal-fired power station of about 600 megawatts,'' Hiller said in a telephone interview from Bali. ``We're offsetting all our travel with emissions credits.''

 

Carbon `Cowboys'

 

The total of 40,700 tons of gas created by the conference is equivalent to the annual emissions of 20,350 mid-sized cars, each traveling 12,000 kilometers, according to www.atmosfair.de, a Web site that allows air travelers to compensate for emissions by investing in strategies to cut gas output in countries including India and Brazil.

 

Delegates buying carbon credits should make sure they know what they're purchasing, because some companies that sell them are ``cowboys,'' Mark Meyrick, a London-based trader for EDF Trading, said in an interview. Companies calculate different amounts of carbon for the same flight, he said.

 

``What's very unclear when you do buy your offset is what exactly you're buying, and how it's calculated,'' Meyrick said. ``Offsetters don't do their reputations any favors when they can't come up with something that approximates the same number.''

 

The UN agency's de Boer said he last tried to have an offset included in a conference budget ``a number of years ago.'' As increasing numbers of governments and companies work to compensate for their own carbon emissions, he said he may try again to get delegates to incorporate offsetting into the convention's budget.

 

``I personally feel that this really should be part of our normal budget and our normal operations,'' de Boer said. ``But I don't decide on our budget; governments do.''

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...id=aPbfclqokwcw

 

:lol

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Laughable, hypocricy is found everywhere but that doesn't mean you need to not take action. By this same arguement, if you're to call yourself a true conservative you should not be driving on the interstate because their's plenty of government waste and corruption that goes into those roads.

 

Government officials and activists flying to Bali, Indonesia, for the United Nations meeting on climate change will cause as much pollution as 20,000 cars in a year.

 

The delegates each will produce an average 4.07 metric tons of carbon dioxide, or CO2, to reach the resort island 950 kilometers (600 miles) from Jakarta, according to estimates e- mailed to Bloomberg by the UN agency holding the conference.

 

Some of the 187 nations participating in the two-week forum promised to offset their so-called carbon footprint by planting trees or buying emission credits. The symbolic actions won't help stop global warming, some scientists say.

 

``It's very hard for the public to understand that you come together with so many people to a very distant place and cause a lot of emissions, and at the same time talk about emission reductions,'' Artur Runge-Metzger, head of climate strategy for the European Commission, said yesterday in an interview in Bali, adding that he had offset his own emissions.

 

Carbon dioxide is the main greenhouse gas responsible for the higher temperatures that are causing a surge in sea levels and an increased risk of droughts and floods, according to UN reports. The goal of the Bali meeting is a deadline for a new international treaty to limit emissions after the current accord, called the Kyoto Protocol, expires in 2012.

 

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the conference organizer, failed to get governments to include offsetting projects in the group's budget, said Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the convention. Some of the 10,000 attendees to this year's meeting, held in air-conditioned rooms at the tropical beach resort, planned their own projects.

 

Proposals Abound

 

Indonesia will plant 79 million trees to offset the entire conference's emissions, Emil Salim, head of the host country's delegation, told reporters yesterday in Bali. The Asian nation is investigating how to develop its tree-planting activity to ensure a lasting offset, said Amanda Katili, special assistant to Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar.

 

``We have to know where the trees will be planted and make sure that they grow and not be cut down until they make enough carbon stock,'' Katili said in an interview.

 

The U.K.'s 40-person team will have their emissions neutralized through a central government fund, a spokeswoman for the country's environment department said.

 

EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas and three of his staff are buying so-called carbon credits, each representing a reduction of a ton of carbon dioxide, on the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, commission spokeswoman Barbara Helfferich said in a telephone interview.

 

$132 `Out of Pocket'

 

``I'm paying out of my own pocket, and some individuals will also offset,'' said Helfferich, adding she's spending about 90 euros ($132).

 

The U.S. won't compensate for the emissions of its delegates because ``we feel the best use of taxpayer dollars is for technology advancement, not purchasing carbon offsets,'' said Kristen Hellmer, a spokeswoman for the delegation.

 

The environmental group WWF International, known in the U.S. as the World Wildlife Fund, is also making sure the visit to Bali by about 80 of its workers is carbon-neutral, according to Martin Hiller, a spokesman for the group's climate change program.

 

``Our flight emissions are equivalent to about half an hour's emissions from a normal coal-fired power station of about 600 megawatts,'' Hiller said in a telephone interview from Bali. ``We're offsetting all our travel with emissions credits.''

 

Carbon `Cowboys'

 

The total of 40,700 tons of gas created by the conference is equivalent to the annual emissions of 20,350 mid-sized cars, each traveling 12,000 kilometers, according to www.atmosfair.de, a Web site that allows air travelers to compensate for emissions by investing in strategies to cut gas output in countries including India and Brazil.

 

Delegates buying carbon credits should make sure they know what they're purchasing, because some companies that sell them are ``cowboys,'' Mark Meyrick, a London-based trader for EDF Trading, said in an interview. Companies calculate different amounts of carbon for the same flight, he said.

 

``What's very unclear when you do buy your offset is what exactly you're buying, and how it's calculated,'' Meyrick said. ``Offsetters don't do their reputations any favors when they can't come up with something that approximates the same number.''

 

The UN agency's de Boer said he last tried to have an offset included in a conference budget ``a number of years ago.'' As increasing numbers of governments and companies work to compensate for their own carbon emissions, he said he may try again to get delegates to incorporate offsetting into the convention's budget.

 

``I personally feel that this really should be part of our normal budget and our normal operations,'' de Boer said. ``But I don't decide on our budget; governments do.''

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...id=aPbfclqokwcw

 

:lol

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I didn't say anything about hypocrisy.

 

The amount of stuff that gets made up to form posts on here actually is laughable though.

Then what are you implying? You're obviously not passing this along as a fact of the day. You have an agenda by posting a news article just as everyone does on this board and I doubt it was to support this summit.

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I didn't say anything about hypocrisy.

 

The amount of stuff that gets made up to form posts on here actually is laughable though.

Then what are you implying? You're obviously not passing this along as a fact of the day. You have an agenda by posting a news article just as everyone does on this board and I doubt it was to support this summit.

An agenda? You seem to take this message board pretty seriously.

 

I found it interesting (gasp!) that people going to a climate summit would cause as much pollution as 20,000 cars in a year. Surprising if anything.

 

You're basically grasping at straws to meet your, "I'm Rune internet message board hard ass and active volcano of bitching! Bow down to me or meet your doom!" quota for the week.

 

Using your logic, there is zero point to this forum because everyone is just pushing an agenda and a hypocrite. I look forward to you calling out everyone who posts in this forum for now on for their hypocrisy and agenda pushing.

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So you found it interesting because?

 

I mean, it's ok if you think they were being hypocritical. Or if you posted it so other people would think they are hypocritical. It's ok to have an opinion. It seems any time someone "accuses" you of having an opinion you throw your arms up and say "WOAH, HEY! You do not decided my opinion for me". It's ok. We all have opinions. Even the Pope.

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I didn't say anything about hypocrisy.

 

The amount of stuff that gets made up to form posts on here actually is laughable though.

Then what are you implying? You're obviously not passing this along as a fact of the day. You have an agenda by posting a news article just as everyone does on this board and I doubt it was to support this summit.

An agenda? You seem to take this message board pretty seriously.

 

I found it interesting (gasp!) that people going to a climate summit would cause as much pollution as 20,000 cars in a year. Surprising if anything.

 

You're basically grasping at straws to meet your, "I'm Rune internet message board hard ass and active volcano of bitching! Bow down to me or meet your doom!" quota for the week.

 

Using your logic, there is zero point to this forum because everyone is just pushing an agenda and a hypocrite. I look forward to you calling out everyone who posts in this forum for now on for their hypocrisy and agenda pushing.

Actually, I am a hypocrite and an agenda pusher, we all are. It's called being a normal human being, I am an a**hole and I don't deny this. It's you who carry yourself with the aura of self importance and infallibility. You revise your likes and dislikes every six months too what's new and fresh because god forbid you don't keep up your too hip for you attitude.

 

We're both a**holes, I just don't deny it you're essentially the same as me when it comes to jumping on people for the smallest of reasons and praising your life but yes I'm the only one in this boat, you're just a laid back guy who never gives ANYONE sh*t or brags about their life.

 

Get over yourself, I did a long time ago. I make no assumptions that I am well-adjusted and treat people as they should be treated. No, I'm a jerk but at least I have enough balls to admit this.

 

You post articles like this too oviously spout hypocricy about those crazy lefties and as soon as anyone calls you out on your ideas you get defensive and like me retort to personal attacks. Just look at every anti Red sox article posted on this board. Elitist a**hole who doesn't want to admit he's just as sh*tty a person as me or some others on this board.

 

If a mod wants to close this because it's off topic fine, but please I'd love to hear your response about how you are SO much a better and polite person than me.

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I'm glad you got that off your chest.

 

I'm glad I've made such a profound effect on your life.

 

Ego = boosted.

 

I still love you.

Crazy leftist.

 

If I knew it was going to take a climate summit article to get Rune to post a diatribe like that, I would have done that such a long time ago. I can't believe he had that bottled for so long.

 

I think someone's going on the naughty list this year... :shifty

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I'm glad you got that off your chest.

 

I'm glad I've made such a profound effect on your life.

 

Ego = boosted.

Because you really needed that, no you really have not had a profound impact on my life in the sense of you yourself, just the class of people I would identify you as. The quirky 20 something hipster who is totally into all the trendy music that week that pitchfork suggests to him and absolutely loves the new movie de jour playing at the local indie house, and absolutely hates rude people and those without respect for others. Just don't tell them you don't like the new Euro import electronica album or the latest films from Tribecca because then you're just a loser with poor taste.

 

So no, you've not had a pround impact on my life, but my hatred of urban hipsters has and you sir are that but OOOH I made a sterotype what an a**hole I am. Yes I am an a**hole, and so the f*** are you.

 

I'm off from work, I'll see your totally witty post, with a few zingers thrown in in about an hour or two if I'm not banned by then.

 

Sorry to all those who are really hurt that I hijacked this totally important thread on a climate summit no one gives too shits about, I know their were so many of you who wanted to discuss this.

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I'm glad you got that off your chest.

 

I'm glad I've made such a profound effect on your life.

 

Ego = boosted.

Because you really needed that, no you really have not had a profound impact on my life in the sense of you yourself, just the class of people I would identify you as. The quirky 20 something hipster who is totally into all the trendy music that week that pitchfork suggests to him and absolutely loves the new movie de jour playing at the local indie house, and absolutely hates rude people and those without respect for others. Just don't tell them you don't like the new Euro import electronica album or the latest films from Tribecca because then you're just a loser with poor taste.

 

So no, you've not had a pround impact on my life, but my hatred of urban hipsters has and you sir are that but OOOH I made a sterotype what an a**hole I am. Yes I am an a**hole, and so the f*** are you.

 

I'm off from work, I'll see your totally witty post, with a few zingers thrown in in about an hour or two if I'm not banned by then.

 

Sorry to all those who are really hurt that I hijacked this totally important thread on a climate summit no one gives too shits about, I know their were so many of you who wanted to discuss this.

I hope you have no access to guns or shopping malls in the next 48 hours.

 

Although I do like electronica, I'd prefer you not use such a broad term to describe such a varied genre. I'm more of a trance and IDM guy myself.

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I'm going to have my servant read Rune's post to me over and over again tonight between my seaweed wrap and 7 o'clock mojito.

 

Are you going to be able to make it to the baby seal clubbing tonight?

My schedule is really, really tight right now with baby punching and puppy stomping.

 

I'm also going to tip over a Salvation Army kettle and then write about it on my LiveJournal.

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Because you really needed that, no you really have not had a profound impact on my life in the sense of you yourself, just the class of people I would identify you as. The quirky 20 something hipster who is totally into all the trendy music that week that pitchfork suggests to him and absolutely loves the new movie de jour playing at the local indie house, and absolutely hates rude people and those without respect for others. Just don't tell them you don't like the new Euro import electronica album or the latest films from Tribecca because then you're just a loser with poor taste.

Fox = NAILED.

 

Just the other day he was saying something to the effect of:

 

Man, I see in mb.com the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy sh*t we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.

Hipster.

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