Reducing vs. Balancing

While the nature of contemporary life makes it challenging to decarbonize, the necessity is unquestionable. The sustainability of fossil fuel-based transportation and electricity generation is dubious at best and, moreover, the near-term environmental and political consequences of fossil fuel dependence are unacceptable. Fortunately, there are a couple ways to approach the challenge.

The first and most important way to manage carbon emissions is with lifestyle changes–or, for businesses, operational changes. These changes can take many different forms but are generally related to emission avoidance or energy efficiency. Changing a light bulb to a CFL, for instance, improves energy efficiency because CFLs require less power than regular bulbs; powering a building with rooftop solar panels instead of with utility-company coal avoids emissions. Both exemplify changes that cause significant reductions.

Reducing carbon emissions is economical too. Many people find that developing a reduction plan helps them rethink their energy needs and cut energy costs. Energy is the most crucial resource for any home or business, but because of its intangibility and presumed abundance, it is often taken for granted. A reduction plan is a good way to not take energy for granted because it requires specific attention to both energy's origins and destinations.

Most sound reduction plans begin by targeting a few select activities that represent the majority of a household's or business's emissions. Reductions in these areas might be modest, but are typically ongoing and increasingly aggressive. The idea behind such plans is to minimize first and then eventually phaseout the most carbon-intensive activities by introducing new, highly-efficient machines and routines. Again, this can be challenging, but when reductions are made incrementally–that is, when each new machine and routine is more energy efficient than its predecessor, the savings is frequently spectacular.

Reductions also tend to beget more reductions–reductions not even calculated in a carbon footprint. Driving a hybrid, of course, requires fewer gallons of gas and emits less carbon dioxide per mile than a non-hybrid–but driving a hybrid also ensures tanker trucks make fewer stops at gas stations, refineries process less crude, and fewer drills penetrate the crust of the Earth. Even something as simple as turning off a light, prolongs its life and, accordingly, postpones the manufacture of a new one.

But perhaps the most salient reason for reducing is that reducing communicates to others the importance of reducing. While purchasing quality carbon credits for a car effectuates top-down infrastructure changes, walking to work is really "walking the walk." Same with biking to work, buying an energy‐efficient refrigerator or reducing emissions in a way nobody has ever thought of before. In the absence of government regulation, the opportunity to assert leadership in addressing decarbonization is tremendous. And corporations, schools and even families who are quick to implement voluntary reduction plans stand to be responsible for the implementations of others.

Accordingly, those wishing to espouse green values might consider looking beyond their own carbon neutrality and encouraging the carbon neutrality of others. Strategic investment in credits is one way to show a commitment to decarbonization, but in-house reductions, when possible, are preferable. They are more immediate, influential and intimate than certificates from even the highest-quality projects in the world.

Nevertheless, the challenge carbon poses is so enormous, balancing with credits must remain part, albeit the lesser part, of the near-term solution. Because without serious, widespread infrastructure changes funded by credits, there will be the potential for high-emission recidivism. Then again, without serious, widespread behavioral changes to accompany investments, clean infrastructures will go underutilized or, worse, only serve to "offset" people's old, dirty habits. The stakes are high, but the path is clear. Reduce, reduce, reduce, and balance diligently.