I appreciate Rick Craig’s illuminating the concerns
of the scientific community, and some forward-thinking members of
Congress, regarding tree planting as a means of offsetting CO2
production (HCN, 10/15/07). Planting trees does
nothing to alleviate our appetite for fossil fuels and
petroleum-derived consumer products.
Real estate
developers are now jumping onto the bandwagon of planting trees to
offset CO2 as a means of justifying second homes. Ameya Preserve (a
proposed resort development south of Livingston, Mont.), in
partnership with The Conservation Fund, claims to “offset the CO2
generation for all families of Ameya Preserve during their entire
lifetimes” by planting 1,700 acres of trees in north-central North
Dakota. Simple and conservative calculations demonstrate this to be
utter nonsense. By promoting resort development in remote and
sensitive wildlife habitat as somehow good for the environment,
Ameya Preserve and the Conservation Fund have unbuckled their
collective pants. Now, would someone please pull them down below
their knees!
Pete Feigley
Livingston,
Montana
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Offsets, schmoffsets.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
