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Living Routes' programs expose students to the world of ecovillages and
sustainable living. Unfortunately, they also expose the world to the
environmental impacts of international travel. Carbon dioxide is a primary
contributor to the Greenhouse Effect, which is warming the Earth's climate
and is possibly the greatest environmental threat of the 21st century. The
evidence is clear that we are entering a period of rapid climate
destabilization ('"global warming'" just sounds too nice) that will almost
certainly lead to more frequent and intense hurricanes, crop failures,
droughts, and massive economic and social disruptions.
So, what's to be done? Well, to put it simply, we need to radically
transform how we act and think in the world. And '"we'" means governments,
institutions (including study abroad organizations) and, perhaps most
importantly, individuals. Nationally committing to international regulatory
efforts (e.g. the Kyoto Protocol) will certainly help by establishing
policies that favor solar, wind, and micro-hydro power; fossil fuel taxes;
and community-based planning for lower-carbon lifestyles. But government
action is only a start. The 5 '- 10% carbon reductions the Kyoto Protocol
requires by 2012 '- even if they are met '- are nowhere near the 60 '- 80%
reductions science suggests is needed within 20 to 30 years to prevent the
worst-case climate scenarios.
Furthermore, governmental and institutional change will be weak and shortlived
without a critical mass of understanding and commitment within the
global citizenry. We each need to learn how we can reduce our personal
carbon footprint while creating and maintaining high quality lifestyles.
The question before each and every one of us is, '"How can we live well and
lightly?'" Since 2005, Living Routes has committed to a three-step Carbon
Strategy where we (1) measure our emissions, (2) reduce these emissions
where possible, and (3) support carbon-reducing initiatives.
MEASURE - Decisions we make every day, from what we eat and how we get
around to what we do with a water bottle after we're done with it, all
affect our carbon footprint. The first step is to understand how our
actions impact the environment. For Living Routes programs, students
estimate CO2 emissions resulting from their travel to, from, and during the
program. On semester programs, students also measure their '"home'" or
'"school'" footprint, which they compare with their '"in country'" footprint.
Living Routes also measures emissions resulting from office activities
including staff travel (including commuting), electricity and paper use,
etc.
REDUCE - Once we have measured our emissions, the next step is to reduce
them wherever possible. This is the most important step and it really
challenges us to '"be the change we wish to see in the world,'" as Gandhi
said. These changes can be large or small. Use less hot water. Become a
vegetarian or vegan. Walk or bike instead of driving somewhere. It all adds
up. At Living Routes, we strive to
walk our talk;
and challenge our students to work through a
Carbon Commitment Calculator
we developed to see how many changes they are willing to make (that they
weren't already, or planning on, doing) as a way of acknowledging and
responding to each program's environmental impacts.
SUPPORT - While our emphasis should always be on reducing emissions, we'll
never get them to zero. So, what should we do about these remaining
emissions? Carbon offsetting organizations propose a third step '- that
individuals and corporations '"offset'" their greenhouse gas emissions by
funding projects that result in emissions reductions or carbon
sequestration (e.g. planting trees). The idea is to become '"carbon neutral'"
by fully '"offsetting'" your emissions. These organizations are successful
to the extent they:
- support renewable energy projects with much needed funding,
which helps them compete with fossil fuel subsidies;
- transfer wealth from 1st world to '"2/3rd world'" countries,
as that is where many of these projects are taking place;
- help organizations voluntarily prepare for regulations, which
governments are increasingly mandating; and
- catalyze awareness and action around these critical environmental
issues.
While acknowledging these positive aspects, Living Routes also believes
these organizations:
- send a misleading message that we can simply buy a
clean conscience while delaying meaningful action;
- have difficulty proving offsetting projects are '"additional'"
(i.e. they would not have occurred without this funding);
- require a large and complex infrastructure that bleeds money
and resources from the actual projects; and
- often don't account for unintended negative impacts from their
offsetting projects (a.k.a. '"leakage'").
Living Routes believes carbon '"offsetting'" is a controversial and
ultimately counterproductive response to the complex issues of peak oil and
climate change and that we need to move beyond the idea that we can
'"neutralize'" our environmental impacts through financial transactions.
Ultimately, a shift towards a sustainable future will require each of us to
deeply reconsider core values and practices of how we live in relationship
to each other and the world. We believe this will, in turn, inevitably
lead people in search of community models that are developing and
maintaining high quality, yet low impact lifestyles '- i.e. ecovillages!
Supporting carbon '"offsetting'" initiatives is still crucial, however.
Living Routes has therefore developed a fund, which we continually add to
based on each program's remaining emissions (at $15/mT CO2e). We use this
fund to support ecovillage-based projects that address issues of peak oil
and climate change. Examples include solar energy (PV systems, solar
cookers, solar thermal systems, solar refrigeration, etc.),
afforestation/reforestation, biogas, wind power, and Earth-building. While
we do estimate the CO2 emissions reductions from these projects, we do not
claim this support makes us carbon neutral '- as we believe there is always
more we can and should be doing. Rather, we consider ourselves a carbon
conscious organization in that we are trying to build awareness, change
lifestyles, and support human-scale sustainabilty projects '- to help each
of us to do our part in creating a healthy planet. Thank you for your
interest in this topic and our collective journey towards a sustainable
future!
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