Living Car Free - Can a car free cyclists sell carbon credits?

Im car free.

Can I advertise for carbon credits? Some rich dude can pay me like $200 bucks a month so I promise nto to drive. IN the meantime he can slap a bumper sticker on his SUV that makes him feel good.

I really dont give two craps about global warming but I want to get in on the carbon credit scam myself!!!

Im car free.

Can I advertise for carbon credits? Some rich dude can pay me like $200 bucks a month so I promise nto to drive. IN the meantime he can slap a bumper sticker on his SUV that makes him feel good.

I really dont give two craps about global warming but I want to get in on the carbon credit scam myself!!!

Check with your soul mates from Nigeria on how to work this scam. They might be interested in your other economic theories too!

lol

How is that any more of a scam than any of this other carbon credit crap?

its just a way for the rich (see al gore) to look down their nose and someone poor or middle class driving an SUV while they are driving a whole damn fleet of them.

I looked for a serious answer to the OP's question.

In North America you can sell voluntary, certified carbon offset credits through the Chicago Climate Exchange (http://www.chicagoclimatex.com/), if your carbon project offsets more than 10,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions. Each metric ton of CO2 offset is worth around $4 on the exchange. Certification would be done on a case by case basis as an energy efficiency and fuel switching project. I couldn't find any existing bicycle related carbon projects so you'd have to sell the idea to the exchange, obtain their certification and pay their fees.

I guess the obvious question is how many metric tons of CO2 offset could be credited to an individual living car free.

Quick check shows that the average mid sized automobile emits about 4.5 metric tons of CO2 per year, base that on an average of around 13,000 miles driven and you have a basis for your carbon credits...sounds like you could get about $18 a year for your trouble...if you ride 13k miles a year;) and don't own a car. But personal experience says that if you are car free you won't cover the same number of miles you would if you had the car. My average mileage when I was car free was around 5,000 miles on an annual basis. With a couple of years in the 3,500 range. I currently consider my self car light in that I only drove 4,000 miles for personal reasons last year...the other 38,000 were company required:( (I know, I know I need a different job:o )

Aaron:)

Not many on the grand scheme since the miles covered by the average car free individual likely aren't close to what the average driver covers. Since the bicycle rider will also use fossil fuels, they have some, albeit lower, carbon emissions signature as well. I would guess the cyclist could offset ~.2-.4 metric tons of Carbon per year assuming a trade of about 3,000 bicycle miles for car miles. The personal economic incentives are already there for most Carbon cuts...

Not many on the grand scheme since the miles covered by the average car free individual likely aren't close to what the average driver covers. Since the bicycle rider will also use fossil fuels, they have some, albeit lower, carbon emissions signature as well. I would guess the cyclist could offset ~.2-.4 metric tons of Carbon per year assuming a trade of about 3,000 bicycle miles for car miles. The personal economic incentives are already there for most Carbon cuts...


Poor reasoning. I am car free. If I had a car, I would add 13,000 miles of driving to the mix. It doesn't matter how many miles I go on my bike. My "carbon credit" would be for one years worth of car usage.

I also kill deer which are ruminants and supposedly emit greenhouse gases.

I should get paid for that too. : )

I also kill deer which are ruminants and supposedly emit greenhouse gases.

I should get paid for that too. : )

Nice try, but deer only emit greenhouse gases that would have been emitted anyway--and the energy you get from eating the venison is broken down and emitted by you as carbon dioxide (and other digestive gases that we won't go into).

But I do think a bunch of bike people could get together and pool those carbon offset credits. How many cyclists would it take to offset a few tons of GHGs? Maybe we could spend spend the money on a big venison BBQ?

Poor reasoning. I am car free. If I had a car, I would add 13,000 miles of driving to the mix. It doesn't matter how many miles I go on my bike. My "carbon credit" would be for one years worth of car usage.You would add 13,000 miles of driving to the mix if you drove 13,000 miles. Unless you happen to bike around 50 miles a day five days a week, etc... I don't see how you would magically increase the distance you travel just by having a car. Unless you just decide to drive around and rack up 13,000 miles simply because you have a car...

A person will travel however many miles they will per year. Be it on a car, bicycle, motorcycle, etc... Stating that a car-free person offsets the equivalent of 13,000 per year, instead of the actual distance they bike per year, is just silly. Why not go with 50,000? Or maybe 356 trillion? You, ChipSeal, alone, save the werld. Go you! :p So, anyway... Imo, a reasonable approximation is that a cyclist offsets however much Carbon is released by someone driving the same number of miles in a car, less the amount of Carbon needed for their fuel, food, likely via agribidness.

Poor reasoning. I am car free. If I had a car, I would add 13,000 miles of driving to the mix. It doesn't matter how many miles I go on my bike. My "carbon credit" would be for one years worth of car usage.
So I guess to remain carbon neutral, each new driver would have to pay some other existing driver to go car free. It seems like we would quickly exhaust the small pool of existing drivers who might be easily persuaded to give up their car.

How much do you think you'd have to pay an average driver to go car free for a year?

How much do you think you'd have to pay an average driver to go car free for a year?

I don't know, but I bet the oil and car companies do.

Along the same lines...Terra Pass (http://www.terrapass.com/) You can get a "yearly pass" (http://www.terrapass.com/road/products.road.php?fulldata=true&yearselect=2005&makeselect=Ford&modelselect=Ford%2CTaurus+automatic+transmission+%2C20%2C27%2C23&mileselect=12000&ea=&m=1101116669192&t=0&sn=TerraPass&pp=%23WebRoot%23%2Froving%2FCCPrivacyPolicy.jsp&fc=%23000099&bc=%23FFFFFF&co=false&lang=en&sl=&m=1101116669192&p=oi&value_5000=Ford&value_5100=Taurus+automatic+transmission&value_5200=2005) for the average 12,000 miles of driving for $50. So that gives you something to shoot for... Personally I think there are better ways to reduce carbon emissions than by selling passes.:rolleyes:

Aaron:)

I'm ashamed to say it, but I've thought of this true. I got a job instead though.

The whole idea of carbon credits is silliness writ large. No one would ever consider such foolishness in other contexts- say weight loss or smoking!:eek:

Suppose I have been on a diet, but Thanksgiving holiday is coming up. I don't want to break my diet, but I want to indulge in the festivities as well. Solution: "Diet credits"!

For a fee, someone else diets in my stead that day so I can indulge in all of my gluttonous desires guilt free! I haven't broken my diet! Woo hoo!:rolleyes:

My family demands that I stop smoking. I compromise with them and pledge to reduce my smoking from two packs of cigarettes a day to one. I do this by entering into the "smoking credits" market. That's right, meet my pledge I simply pay someone else to cut back his smoking so I don't have to! :p

When global warming hysterics tout carbon credits as a way to reduce someones "carbon footprint", it damages their stature as clear thinkers and undercuts their credibility on other subjects.

A person will travel however many miles they will per year. Be it on a car, bicycle, motorcycle, etc... Stating that a car-free person offsets the equivalent of 13,000 per year, instead of the actual distance they bike per year, is just silly. .

I agree that starting at an arbitrary number is silly, however years that I have owned a car i have definitely traveled farther than car free years. When you are using a bike for transportation you tend not to pick the shop that is 20 miles away to get something, even if it is your favorite shop. You tend to not make weekend trips out of town etc. For myself, I tend to not race (triathlon and running events) as much. Some quick math and I would say racing could add 3000 miles a year to my totals easy as an example.

I agree that starting at an arbitrary number is silly, however years that I have owned a car i have definitely traveled farther than car free years. When you are using a bike for transportation you tend not to pick the shop that is 20 miles away to get something, even if it is your favorite shop. You tend to not make weekend trips out of town etc. For myself, I tend to not race (triathlon and running events) as much. Some quick math and I would say racing could add 3000 miles a year to my totals easy as an example.

As wahoonc already pointed out, carfree cyclists do tend to travel less than drivers. I do about 5,000 miles a year in my bike and 4800 on the interurban bus. To be fair, you could use 13000 miles/year as a baseline. If somebody drove only 8000 they would get credit for the other 5000. A purist carfree person would get credit for the entire 13000.

Of course I don't think this is a feasible way to decrease driving. I vote for better alternative infrastructure and a revenue-neutral carbon tax to accomplish that. Or gas rationing.

The whole idea of carbon credits is silliness writ large. No one would ever consider such foolishness in other contexts- say weight loss or smoking!:eek:

Suppose I have been on a diet, but Thanksgiving holiday is coming up. I don't want to break my diet, but I want to indulge in the festivities as well. Solution: "Diet credits"!

For a fee, someone else diets in my stead that day so I can indulge in all of my gluttonous desires guilt free! I haven't broken my diet! Woo hoo!:rolleyes:

My family demands that I stop smoking. I compromise with them and pledge to reduce my smoking from two packs of cigarettes a day to one. I do this by entering into the "smoking credits" market. That's right, meet my pledge I simply pay someone else to cut back his smoking so I don't have to! :p

When global warming hysterics tout carbon credits as a way to reduce someones "carbon footprint", it damages their stature as clear thinkers and undercuts their credibility on other subjects.

This is a lame analogy. Smoking is an addiction that harms the smoker. Driving is an addiction that harms everybody.

This is a lame analogy. Smoking is an addiction that harms the smoker. Driving is an addiction that harms everybody.

I contend smoking harms all of us to a certain extent. Second hand smoke and increased insurance premiums and health care costs. I haven't been in a hospital in over 35 years as an inpatient or outpatient, but I still pay my health insurance premiums and they sure as hell aren't going down. Maybe I should ask for a refund:p For what I pay in insurance premiums I could have bought a decent sized house...

Aaron:)

I contend smoking harms all of us to a certain extent. Second hand smoke and increased insurance premiums and health care costs. I haven't been in a hospital in over 35 years as an inpatient or outpatient, but I still pay my health insurance premiums and they sure as hell aren't going down. Maybe I should as for a refund:p For what I pay in insurance premiums I could have bought a decent sized house...

Aaron:)

You healthy people make me sick! :p

I've dealt with both tobacco addiction and car dependency. Giving up cars was a hell of a lot easier! But I guess one point is that we're all in this together, breathing the same air. I doubt if our current version of capitalism is going to have much success at dealing with either health care or carbon emissions. This will require cooperation, not the unbridled greed that underlies contemporary capitalism.

How about we get everyone on this thread to add up their car-free milage, pool them together, sell the carbon offset credits, and donate the proceeds to a pro-bike charity?

I think New York State has some kind of tax advantage for those driving hybrid vehicles, on the basis that they are using less gas and emitting less. I use NO gas and emit NOTHING, besides a fart every once in a while. Where is MY tax advantage?

How about we get everyone on this thread to add up their car-free milage, pool them together, sell the carbon offset credits, and donate the proceeds to a pro-bike charity?


Isn't my carbon fiber frame a form of carbon sequestration? Shouldn't that be added to our carbon offset account?:D

As wahoonc already pointed out, carfree cyclists do tend to travel less than drivers. I do about 5,000 miles a year in my bike and 4800 on the interurban bus. To be fair, you could use 13000 miles/year as a baseline. If somebody drove only 8000 they would get credit for the other 5000. A purist carfree person would get credit for the entire 13000.

Of course I don't think this is a feasible way to decrease driving. I vote for better alternative infrastructure and a revenue-neutral carbon tax to accomplish that. Or gas rationing.

Too bad that no matter what we do, it won't be enough. According to IPCC and the EPA, atmospheric CO2 will rise from 380 PPM to between (best case, fully world wide regulation) 514 PPM to (worst case, no regulation and present trends) 718 PPM over the next 75 years or so. That would translate into a minimum rise in global temperatures of between 1.03 degrees or a maximum rise of 1.2 degrees Celsius.

Yes boys and girls, if we change western civilization into third world style economies, we will reduce global temperatures by .18 degrees! I say, dang it all, let's do it!:rolleyes:

source: http://www.junkscience.com/ByTheJunkman/20071004.html

Last winter the coldest it got here was -7 Celsius. If we had global warming it would've been a balmy -6! (Maybe it was rash of me to sell my mukluks.)
This summers high of 40.5 was just uncomfortable, I can't imagine the horror of 41.7!:p

It is hard for me to think that a change in the atmospheric gas ratios from 380/999,620 to 718/999,282 is enough to cause all this fuss.

How about we get everyone on this thread to add up their car-free milage, pool them together, sell the carbon offset credits, and donate the proceeds to a pro-bike charity?

Lifetime Odometer: 12,446 miles

That's miles logged since June 1st, 2006. Now... how many dollars is that?

Care to explain how legit carbon credit trading is a scam?

How is that any more of a scam than any of this other carbon credit crap?

its just a way for the rich (see al gore) to look down their nose and someone poor or middle class driving an SUV while they are driving a whole damn fleet of them.

The whole idea of carbon credits is silliness writ large. No one would ever consider such foolishness in other contexts- say weight loss or smoking!:eek:

Suppose I have been on a diet, but Thanksgiving holiday is coming up. I don't want to break my diet, but I want to indulge in the festivities as well. Solution: "Diet credits"!

For a fee, someone else diets in my stead that day so I can indulge in all of my gluttonous desires guilt free! I haven't broken my diet! Woo hoo!:rolleyes:

My family demands that I stop smoking. I compromise with them and pledge to reduce my smoking from two packs of cigarettes a day to one. I do this by entering into the "smoking credits" market. That's right, meet my pledge I simply pay someone else to cut back his smoking so I don't have to! :p

When global warming hysterics tout carbon credits as a way to reduce someones "carbon footprint", it damages their stature as clear thinkers and undercuts their credibility on other subjects.

So... stay car free AND buy carbon offsets. Or just donate to a cause that you know supports clean power or some such (If you want to do away with the middleman's cut)

Then you'd be doing twice as much for the environment. ;)

The good thing about the carbon offset programs is that it gets more money out there that's designated for clean energy. The more money we invest in clean energy, the cheaper it will get, and the sooner we can wean ourselves off of petroleum products and other dirty energy sources.

Im car free.

Can I advertise for carbon credits? Some rich dude can pay me like $200 bucks a month so I promise nto to drive. IN the meantime he can slap a bumper sticker on his SUV that makes him feel good.

I really dont give two craps about global warming but I want to get in on the carbon credit scam myself!!!

:roflmao::roflmao::roflmao:

I think New York State has some kind of tax advantage for those driving hybrid vehicles, on the basis that they are using less gas and emitting less. I use NO gas and emit NOTHING, besides a fart every once in a while. Where is MY tax advantage?Methane has 60+ times the GWP of Carbon Dioxide. ;)

It is hard for me to think that a change in the atmospheric gas ratios from 380/999,620 to 718/999,282 is enough to cause all this fuss.We'd be peachy keen if all it did was raise the temperature by a degree over the entire globe and leave everything else intact. The problem is, it isn't, and like won't, do that. It has, and likely will, continue to upset the weather and climate patterns we enjoy. This wouldn't be a problem, except that people have already established themselves around the globe in places suitable to their living arrangements for the most part. If we start changing everything around, since we've, for the most part, picked the best spots to live, we're gonna end up dealing with more crap down the road such as, higher frequency Cat 4-5 storms, the reduction in range and intensity of the oceanic conveyor and hotter summers, cooler winters, droughts, floods, etc... that goes with zat, increases in crop failures and yields, displacement of people due to very large changes in weather, etc... It's kinda like playing musical chairs with weather and society. Given that most have adapted relatively well to the situation, if we start shaking crap up, all we're causing is grief.

Lifetime Odometer: 12,446 miles

That's miles logged since June 1st, 2006. Now... how many dollars is that?Based on active Carbon trading, around $15-20, depending on the exchange rate.

Care to explain how legit carbon credit trading is a scam?Criticisms (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emissions_trading#Criticism).

Too bad that no matter what we do, it won't be enough. According to IPCC and the EPA, atmospheric CO2 will rise from 380 PPM to between (best case, fully world wide regulation) 514 PPM to (worst case, no regulation and present trends) 718 PPM over the next 75 years or so. That would translate into a minimum rise in global temperatures of between 1.03 degrees or a maximum rise of 1.2 degrees Celsius.

Yes boys and girls, if we change western civilization into third world style economies, we will reduce global temperatures by .18 degrees! I say, dang it all, let's do it!:rolleyes:

source: http://www.junkscience.com/ByTheJunkman/20071004.html

Last winter the coldest it got here was -7 Celsius. If we had global warming it would've been a balmy -6! (Maybe it was rash of me to sell my mukluks.)
This summers high of 40.5 was just uncomfortable, I can't imagine the horror of 41.7!:p

It is hard for me to think that a change in the atmospheric gas ratios from 380/999,620 to 718/999,282 is enough to cause all this fuss.


You're talking about weather in your own backyard when the issue is wide-scale climate change. Pretty ignorant, no offense.

In North America you can sell voluntary, certified carbon offset credits through the Chicago Climate Exchange (http://www.chicagoclimatex.com/), if your carbon project offsets more than 10,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions. Each metric ton of CO2 offset is worth around $4 on the exchange. Certification would be done on a case by case basis as an energy efficiency and fuel switching project. I couldn't find any existing bicycle related carbon projects so you'd have to sell the idea to the exchange, obtain their certification and pay their fees.

I guess the obvious question is how many metric tons of CO2 offset could be credited to an individual living car free.
Thanks for the info. As someone else mentioned, we could pool our carfreeness to get the 10,000 metric tons.

I'm with ChipSeal on this one.

Carbon credits are like papal indulgences. I'm sitting ini front of a pc with two screens, under an incandescent bulb, in a room with eight or ten florescent bulbs, an air filter going nearby... sipping at hot coffee... and all this is being powered by a coal burning station somewhere not very far away. No matter how far I rode on my bike to get here, I have done nothing to offset the burning of that coal. This morning's bicycle commute was not even carbon neutral: I got a flat tire, used up two patches in an unsuccessful attempt to fix it, and now the whole tube is shot, so now I will be responsible for a factory in Taiwan to make me a new one. It's ridiculous to think that I could somehow ride my bike a little farther to offset these emissions, so the idea that I could pay someone else to ride his bike is no better. The only way any of us can reduce our emissions is by reducing our emissions; why is that so hard to understand?

I'm with ChipSeal on this one.

Carbon credits are like papal indulgences. I'm sitting ini front of a pc with two screens, under an incandescent bulb, in a room with eight or ten florescent bulbs, an air filter going nearby... sipping at hot coffee... and all this is being powered by a coal burning station somewhere not very far away. No matter how far I rode on my bike to get here, I have done nothing to offset the burning of that coal. This morning's bicycle commute was not even carbon neutral: I got a flat tire, used up two patches in an unsuccessful attempt to fix it, and now the whole tube is shot, so now I will be responsible for a factory in Taiwan to make me a new one. It's ridiculous to think that I could somehow ride my bike a little farther to offset these emissions, so the idea that I could pay someone else to ride his bike is no better. The only way any of us can reduce our emissions is by reducing our emissions; why is that so hard to understand?I hope you're at work as you wrote that, as those are all factors you could improve at home. I know most of us have little control over the practices of our employers.

But you make some very good points. When it comes to pollution, there are several problems worse than cars--food production, home heating/cooling and electricity generation. The latter two factors are bigger contrigutors to global warming than cars.

If you're carfree for environmentalist reasons, you should also look into a smaller home, efficient appliances, and eating organic food and less meat.

The only way any of us can reduce our emissions is by reducing our emissions; why is that so hard to understand?It's not hard to understand, just hard to swallow. For those whose revenue stream depends on fossil fuel consumption that is. So, we have these indulgences in order to encourage continued use and keep profits up, even if they do little or nothing.

The good thing about the carbon offset programs is that it gets more money out there that's designated for clean energy. The more money we invest in clean energy, the cheaper it will get, and the sooner we can wean ourselves off of petroleum products and other dirty energy sources.

But it's like giving crack addicts money. It enables them to persist in bad behaviors.

What kind of "clean energy" are you planning on using that doesn't use metal or wood and some kind of lubrication in order to make it?? Wind mills,NO...solar panels,NO... water driven something or other,NO.We could kill all the cows,never chop down another tree,that would be a good start.Even the bikes we all love are not pollution free.This whole green thing is way out of control.

The poor Earth has been belching out lord knows what out of volcanos for millions,if not billions of years,and these green head ding-dongs are trying to tell me that all of this is cause by cars and industry in the last 100 or so years?The lastest poster boy,Al Gore,preaching green crap,as he's FLYING around the world.If he was really worried about it ,we would see him in China and India giving pollution speeches. He DID invent the internet you know,GIVE ME A BREAK....

Unless your planning on digging a hole somewhere and living in it,and surviving on roots and grass that you dig up with your bare hands,making your clothes to keep warm out of some kind of plants with your bare hands,never start a fire to keep warm or make some kind of metal tools,we're all part of the problem,animals included.

Just do the best you can,ride your bike when you can,try to limit your water/soil pollution the best you can,recycle stuff when you can.

I say it's all the cavemens fault for discovering fire.....

What kind of "clean energy" are you planning on using that doesn't use metal or some kind of lubrication in order to make it?? Wind mills,NO...solar panels,NO water driven something or other,NO.We could kill all the cows,that would be a good start.Even the bikes we all love are not pollution free.This whole green thing is way out of control.

Unless your planning on digging a hole somewhere and living in it,and surviving on roots and grass that you dig up with your bare hands,making your clothes to keep warm out of some kind of plants with your bare hands,never start a fire to keep warm or make some kind of metal tools,your part of the problem.

Damn. You're absolutely right. Guess I'll just go out and buy a Hummer.

Thanks for the info. As someone else mentioned, we could pool our carfreeness to get the 10,000 metric tons.

Perhaps something like this could be organized by the League of American Bicyclists. The proceeds could then go towards bicycle advocacy or, even better, be used to build better cycling facilities (bike lockers, etc).

If this sounds practical to the rest of you then perhaps we should try to bring it to the League.

Lifetime Odometer: 12,446 miles

That's miles logged since June 1st, 2006. Now... how many dollars is that?



I dont know but I'm sure nobel peace prize winner Al "too fat to bike" Gore burned up way more fossil fuels this morning in his private jet than you have saved.

Maybe if you increased your CO2 output by 1,000,000% you to could win some sort of prize.

What a joke.

What kind of "clean energy" are you planning on using that doesn't use metal or wood and some kind of lubrication in order to make it?? Wind mills,NO...solar panels,NO... water driven something or other,NO...
Actually, that's a question that's being taken seriously. Some analysts aren't sure that an energy economy based only on renewable sources can support its own industrial infrastructure. Or more precisely, after you expend the electricity you need to build the windmills and solar cells, will there be enough left over to make it all worth while.

Thats why conservation is going to have to be key if we ever get off fossil fuels.

Most people are driving around everywhere convinced that there is this new energy source on the horizon unaware of the law of conservation of energy says that energy is neither created nor destroyed.

Oil is a gift from god and just one tanker truck of gasoline represents 22 MILLION man hours of labor before the industrial revolution.

We use it to haul our one kid around in an 2,000 pound vehicle instead of saving it for what is really good for like plowing ground or running a combine.

Crazy.

From an enviromental standpoint, I think the best use of carbon credits is when people/organizations/companies who have no intention of using them buy them. In fact I believe some of the companies participating in carbon trading are trying to ban traders who buy credits but don't use them. As bicyclists we wouldn't be helping by selling credits, it will just drive down the cost of polluting. All in all it is BS though, so trade away with a semi-clear conscious. We have a hard enough time making sure companies are correctly reporting their accounting and paying the correct taxes. Does anyone really expect a company to correctly report and pay for carbon credits?

When global warming hysterics tout carbon credits as a way to reduce someones "carbon footprint", it damages their stature as clear thinkers and undercuts their credibility on other subjects.

I have to agree. I find the whole carbon credits concept totally asinine. It's hype, sales, and marketing from companies and marketers that want to get in on the green game:

I wrote a post about it for Monday's "blog action day." This sums it up:

When thinking “green” forget about what’s on the store shelf. Examine your consumption, material drives, and balance your needs versus your wants. Scaling down in life, spending less, and making conscious consumer choices beyond whether it’s “green” or not will by proxy make you a greener person. That’s the ultimate green statement. But don’t tell the marketers.

http://www.futuregringo.com/index.php/2007/10/16/its-not-easy-being-green/

What kind of "clean energy" are you planning on using that doesn't use metal or wood and some kind of lubrication in order to make it?? Wind mills,NO...solar panels,NO... water driven something or other,NO.We could kill all the cows,never chop down another tree,that would be a good start.Even the bikes we all love are not pollution free.This whole green thing is way out of control.

The poor Earth has been belching out lord knows what out of volcanos for millions,if not billions of years,and these green head ding-dongs are trying to tell me that all of this is cause by cars and industry in the last 100 or so years?The lastest poster boy,Al Gore,preaching green crap,as he's FLYING around the world.If he was really worried about it ,we would see him in China and India giving pollution speeches. He DID invent the internet you know,GIVE ME A BREAK....

Unless your planning on digging a hole somewhere and living in it,and surviving on roots and grass that you dig up with your bare hands,making your clothes to keep warm out of some kind of plants with your bare hands,never start a fire to keep warm or make some kind of metal tools,we're all part of the problem,animals included.

Just do the best you can,ride your bike when you can,try to limit your water/soil pollution the best you can,recycle stuff when you can.

I say it's all the cavemens fault for discovering fire.....

Your sarcastic "solution" is absurd, although very typical of modern American thought.

The basic problem is that we ask for too much, and we live in a manner that can't last more than a few generations (if that long).

We have brains, we have reason, we have beautiful technology. These human qualities could sustain us and the planet--comfortably--for eternity, almost.

The thing that's working against us is greed. We always pursue the maximum rather than optimum.