WORD OF THE YEAR: CARBON NEUTRAL

By Ella Tyler

The editors of The New Oxford American Dictionary unveiled the 2006 Word of the Year on Monday. It is “carbon neutral.” Erin McKean, the book’s editor, said that lexicographers at Oxford University Publishing are always looking for a word that “is both reflective of the events and concerns of the past year and also forward looking: a word that we think will only become more used and more useful as time goes on.”

As the folks at Oxford explain the term, being carbon neutral involves calculating your total climate-damaging carbon emissions, reducing them where possible, and then balancing your remaining emissions, often by purchasing a carbon offset: paying to plant new trees or investing in green technologies such as solar and wind power.

Carbon emissions come from the burning of fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and gas. The carbon dioxide that is released accumulates in the atmosphere. The problem with carbon dioxide is that it is a greenhouse gas. It allows sunlight to enter the atmosphere freely but absorbs the reflected infrared radiation and traps the heat in the atmosphere. Methane, water vapor, nitrous oxide, and gases used for aerosols are also greenhouse gases.

Becoming carbon neutral has become the environmental thing to do. The Olympics, World Cup Soccer, and the Super Bowl are carbon neutral. MTV is offsetting the emissions associated with its broadcasts. Rock bands like the Rolling Stones, Coldplay, and Dave Matthews Band offset the carbon dioxide from their concerts, including the fans’ travel to the concerts. Organizations as diverse as Wells Fargo, Whole Foods, the EPA, and the city of Vail have purchased large quantities of renewable energy certificates. In Houston, lectures by Al Gore, Edmund Wilson, and others hosted by The Progressive Forum are carbon neutral.

All this is possible because there are a wide range of businesses and non-profit groups that offer carbon offsets. In the US, Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) is a greenhouse gas emission registry, reduction, and trading system for all the greenhouse gases. CCX claims that market-based emissions trading systems are the least-cost method for managing environmental risks. It points to the US sulfur dioxide allowance-trading program to reduce acid rain as evidence of the benefits of emissions trading.

Because of the market in carbon offsets, the designation of an event or business as carbon neutral requires only the application of money – and not even very much money.

Planktos Inc. is a California company that sells carbon credits and uses the funds to restore phytoplankton populations in the world’s oceans. According to Planktos, a large pick-up truck or SUV that gets between 10 – 18 mpg is responsible for 10 tons of CO2 emissions per year. The company will negate one of these vehicle’s annual carbon footprint for $50.

Carbonfund.org would compensate for the 23 tons of carbon an average American produces every year for $99. The Rolling Stones 2003 US tour was made carbon neutral for about twenty-five cents per ticket, thanks to a company called Future Forests. At Super Bowl XL, a range of activities – from team, fan, and media travel, to 100 associated events, to stadium lighting – generated more than 260 tons of carbon emissions, according to calculations by Oak Ridge Laboratory. To offset these emissions, the NFL planted 2,400 trees in Detroit.

Critics argue that the availability of carbon offsets allows companies and celebrities to improve their public image and reduce guilt related to consumption of fossil fuels without reducing the use of such fuels. However, many who purchase carbon offsets also have other environmental programs in place.

The tree-planting program was only one part of the environmental program of the Super Bowl. The event recycled, sent extra food from Super Bowl events to food banks, and donated leftover decorative materials, building materials, office supplies, and other reusable items to local charities. The NFL developed environmental guidelines for use by Super Bowl vendors and contractors. Jack Groh, the National Football League’s environment program director, in an interview with the Green Skeptic, Scott Anderson, pointed out that “The Super Bowl is the pinnacle of special events and everyone, whether they produce concerts, sporting events or conventions is looking at the Super Bowl and what we’re doing. You look at any of the other events in this country and compare what they are doing with what we’ve initiated and you can see the impact.”

If pro football, the Rolling Stones, and Whole Foods are behind an idea, the people at Oxford are probably right in their prediction that the term “carbon neutral” will indeed be used more often as time goes on.