Mayday Mayday: Invasion of the Climate Snatchers...
1st May 2008 - Day of Action Against False Solutions to Climate Change
Carbon Trading and Carbon Offsets
CARBON TRADING IS CONTRARY TO SOCIAL JUSTICE: THE LARGEST RESOURCE GRAB IN HISTORY
You can't trade in something unless you own it. When governments and companies "trade" in carbon, they establish de facto property rights over the atmosphere; a commonly held global commons. At no point have these atmospheric property rights been discussed or negotiated - their ownership is established by stealth with every carbon trade.
THE CARBON TRADE WILL STRENGTHEN EXISTING INEQUALITIES
Market shares in the new carbon market will be allocated on the basis of who is already the largest polluter and who is fastest to exploit the market. The new "carbocrats" will therefore be the global oil, chemical, and car corporations, and the richest nations; the very groups that created the problem of climate change in the first place. What is more, with the current absence of "supplementarity",
the richest nations and corporations will be able to further increase their global share of emissions by outbidding poorer interests for
carbon credits.
THE CLEAN DEVELOPMENT MECHANISM POSES A DIRECT THREAT TO VULNERABLE PEOPLES
Many of the projects proposed within the CDM, in particular tree planting and dams, are subject to the same criticisms as other large
scale development projects- they assert foreign ownership of local resources, they consolidate the power of undemocratic elites, they
oust people from their land, they undermine local self sufficient economies and low carbon cultures.
MANY OF THE SOURCES OF CARBON CREDITS ARE SCAMS
TREE PLANTING IS NOT A SOLUTION TO CLIMATE CHANGE
Carbon absorbed by forests is only removed from the carbon cycle for as long as the tree is standing and alive. Industrial forestry will
not sequester carbon. Permanent reforestation is a once only removal of carbon from the cycle and cannot offset sustained
overproduction.
More at: risingtide.org.uk/resources/factsheets/carbontrading
For an amusing look at Offsetting see Cheat Neutral
For Carbon Offsets -Article "Offsetting Democracy"
For Carbon Trading - Article"Carbon Trading - The Limits of Free Market Logic"
There is also a really great article that is relevant by
Walden Bello called from the Bangkok Post
"Will Capitalism Survive Climate Change?"