Russ Steele
If global warming were a real emergency, would our political leaders ignoring their own advice. Consider this from the Monday Sac Bee on Page A16.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger crisscrosses the globe in a private Gulfstream 400 jet, advocating environmental virtues after signing a significant global warming reduction bill last year. He says he offsets his plane's greenhouse gas damage by financing projects that reduce carbon emissions elsewhere.
But the governor refuses to reveal how much money he has spent on emissions credits, making it impossible to determine how much he has reduced his carbon footprint. The governor also refuses to say how many hours he has flown.
What happened to lead by example? This story point to a real problem with greenhouse gas offsets. How do we know the offset money paid actually results in a reduction in greenhouse gases? We don't. It is a scam unless we have a transparent system with a validation process.
