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Can Buying Offsets CANCEL OUT Your Carbon Footprint? - YouTube
Channel: Sykom
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today majority of people think that
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climate change is one of the biggest
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crises humanity has ever faced and we
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all need to do something to reduce
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carbon emissions before it's too late
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but what is something
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for some people that something may be
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switching to an electric vehicle
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for others it's switching to a
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plant-based diet
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for still others it's upgrading their
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homes to have energy-efficient lights
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and appliances
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these are all great steps to take but
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not everyone can commit to making such
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immediate and massive lifestyle changes
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especially in the absence of government
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subsidies and infrastructure
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and we need everyone to be doing
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something now
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otherwise the earth's climate will
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continue on the road to disaster the
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good news is there is something that
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everyone can do to take action now
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without waiting for any government
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regulation
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buy carbon offsets
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the basic idea is that you can cancel
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out the greenhouse gases you emit by
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supporting a company or organization
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that pulls carbon emissions out of the
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air
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for example by flying round-trip from
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california to new york
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a single passenger emits approximately
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half a metric ton of carbon dioxide into
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the air
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but if each passenger on the plane was
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buying carbon offsets the net effect of
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this flight on the environment would be
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zero emissions
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this is a pretty great solution when you
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think about it the average person in the
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usa is responsible for 16 to 20 metric
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tons of co2 emissions per year
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incidentally this is much higher than
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the global average of 4 tons per person
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if we are to reach our climate goals
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that number needs to be less than two
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tons per person per year for every
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person on earth
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that's an impossible goal if we were
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only to rely on everyone making
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immediate and drastic lifestyle changes
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like cutting down meat consumption and
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becoming more energy efficient
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instead people could buy carbon offsets
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to cancel out the emissions they cannot
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avoid producing
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while continuing to make small steps
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towards reducing their emissions
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even better still carbon offsets are
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very affordable
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the price of carbon offsets varies
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depending on which organization you
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choose to support
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at most it costs about dollars to remove
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one metric ton of carbon emissions
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a cost which will only go down as
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technology improves
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so even if we assume an individual in
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the usa is producing emissions at the
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higher end of the scale
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it would only cost about
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2.74 cents per day to completely cancel
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out that person's contribution to
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climate change
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that's less than a cup of coffee in some
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places
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but before you go rushing off to cancel
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out your emissions make sure you do your
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homework and figure out if the
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organization you support is removing
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additional carbon dioxide from the
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atmosphere then would otherwise be
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removed
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for example trees naturally remove
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carbon dioxide from the atmosphere so
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many reforestation and forest
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preservation organizations may sell
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offsets
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however there have been cases where
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organizations overestimate the amount of
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carbon being removed because certain
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species of trees remove less carbon
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dioxide than others
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other organizations have sold offsets by
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saying they will preserve a certain area
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of forest
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only that area of the forest was never
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in any danger of being destroyed
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so buying these offsets does nothing to
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change the world's net carbon emissions
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if you want to make sure your offsets
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are additional you need to look for
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projects that would not exist without
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the carbon offset market
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these can certainly be reforestation and
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forest preservation efforts as long as
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the trees would not be planted or
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protected without your support
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but there are many more carbon removal
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technologies that are just beginning to
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come into existence and need financial
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backing
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direct air capture which removes carbon
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dioxide from ambient air
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carbon capture which prevents carbon
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dioxide from industrial flu stacks from
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entering our atmosphere
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and methane capture which helps remove
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emissions from farms and landfills are
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just a few of the technologies that
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remove additional carbon emissions that
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would otherwise add to the climate
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crisis
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and many of these companies are relying
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heavily on the carbon offset market to
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fund further research and innovation
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so next time you treat yourself to a cup
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of coffee don't forget to treat the
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earth to some carbon offsets as well
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[Music]
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if you are ready to purchase carbon
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offsets check out the links in the
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description box below for some great
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carbon offset providers
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thanks for watching
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