Global Warming and Carbon Credits

Read an article yesterday about the concept of 'carbon credits'. Any sensible person who has watched the Oscars this year would have sat up with great consternation at Al Gore's proclamation to great applause that the Oscars had gone 'green'. It is the kind of self-contradictory statement that only politicians, lawyers and businessman can make with ease. It was immediately criticized by various sections of people and was pounced upon with glee by political satirists. So what prompted the statement? It seems that the organizing committee had donated a certain amount of money to a certain group of people who had promised to invest it in decreasing the carbon emissions into the atmosphere. This decrease is supposed to offset the environmental impact of the Oscar extravaganza. Rich people/countries buy 'carbon credits' to make up for all the environmental damage that they cause. There are two pitfalls to this concept - one, poor inevitably get trampled upon. They are forced to compensate for the environmental extravagance of the rich. Second, carbon emissions need not be a zero sum game. You increase the emissions and then sell carbon credits to cut down on the increase. Polluter wins, earth loses. The rich are happy. The poor face the consequences. Story of Man's existence on earth.