Climate Free-riders and carbon leaks
- What is the buzz about the United States of America not being a signatory of the Kyoto Protocol? A fantastic term, “carbon leakage“, referring to the “increase in carbon dioxide emissions in one country as a result of an emissions reduction by a second country with a stricter climate policy. Such a situation may also describe the lost of United States’ competitive edge when it loses investments to another country that does not exercise the same climate regulations as it does, should the US join the Kyoto bandwagon.
- It serious when planning for the provision of electricity has to include an estimate of the extra cost imposed by Free-Riders – like doing a headcount for naughty children but not disciplining them. We simply cannot!
I decided to look up how to consume in a green way (as in less carbon dioxide) so that we won’t be carbon free-riders ourselves – and i went on a few tangents till I got to two things very related to our daily lifestyle choices: Green clothing & Excess packaging
Green clothing (as per Treehugger.com’s suggestions)
1. Keep your current clothes.
2. Cold wash and line-dry.
3. Buy long-lasting durable clothes – both in material and fashion (timelessness).
4. Buttons are easily repaired, not the fancy fasteners
5. Shop second-hand. “Choose from an amazing array of styles” – an example is formal wear that women will not wear too many times.
6. Clothing made using recycled fabric or other materials.
7. Organic cotton, or other natural fabrics – but proper additions of synthetic materials can greatly increase garment lifespan.
8. Fair-traded product
Excess packaging
Sandy Barker’s candid account is a fantastic introduction to the topic – too much clutter!
Facebook is advocating a decrease in packing - the wall of the cause is filled with updates about how Amazon decided to cut Christmas packaging, etc.
In UK they take it so seriously that retailer Sainsbury may be charged for violating the packaging rule.
I looked around some more for cool green stuff and found Julika Welge’s recyclable carpet, Timberland’s Earthkeepers boots.
Cools stuff a’int they?
I saw somewhere that we should stop buying the cutie pies of products and get the giants instead – saves on gas for the extra trip too!
