Becoming CO2 neutral - Aventures Bicyclétales

Carbon offsetting is about funding renewable energy and energy efficiency projects that significantly reduce CO2 emissions. By purchasing reductions equivalent to your level of CO2 emissions, you fund these projects and you offset your impact on the climate. Read more below about the potential side-effects of this concept ...

How can you help me ?

I gave myself the objective to become CO2 neutral ; and to achieve this, not only do I need to offset my past emissions, but I must also maintain my future emissions as close to zero as possible :

I estimated the theoretical offset cost of my past emissions originated from transportations at 3,773 Euros (see here the calculation) and I multiplied arbitrarily this number by 2 in order to take into account all the time my carbon already spent in the atmosphere (I have been driving for 16 years and I first got onto a plane 13 years ago) and my other carbon emissions (from housing, finished goods and food, which all cumulated are equivalent to ~20% of my total emissions : see here the detail of my personal carbon impact). Total = 7,546 Euros.
In order to reduce my future CO2 emissions, I decided to go home on a bicycle rather than getting onto a plane. The cost of the trip is anticipated to be 20,000 Euros (12,000 Euros for the equipment => see here the calculation and 8,000 Euros for food and housing).

You can help me by contributing to these expenses. It's easy, there are just 4 steps to follow :

Step 1 : Please select one of three options described below.
.

. Option 1 : CO2 offsetting I buy carbon credits through with your donation !	. Option 2 : 50/50 I buy carbon credits with half of your donation, you sponsor my cycling trip with the second half of your donation.	. Option 3 : zero CO2 emission you sponsor my cycling trip with your donation !

. 5,706 Euros already donated 300 tons of CO2 already offset . you can donate 1,840 Euros ..	- you can donate 3,680 Euros .	9,725 Euros already donated you can donate 10,275 Euros .
CO2 offset certificates are purchased for every thousand Euros donated the 6 corresponding CO2 certificates are shown below . . .	CO2 offset certificates are purchased for every thousand Euros donated the 6 corresponding CO2 certificates are shown below . . .	-

Step 2 : Send me a message with the following information => selected option, amount of your donation, name, postal address or email address.

You can also send me a mail with above information to the following address => 29 Bd Jean Jaurès, 28200 Châteaudun, FRANCE.

Step 3 : Transfer the amount of your donation to the following Bank Account => Frédéric LINGET, Crédit Mutuel de Châteaudun (BIC/Swift code = CMCIFR2A), IBAN account number FR76 1545 9372 1000 0102 5180 375.
or
in Thailand only => Frederic LINGET, BangkokBank (BBL), account number 105 430 774 7.

Step 4 : You will receive a confirmation message within a few days (if I am not riding yet, otherwise it will take longer) together with a donation certificate and my sincere appreciation. Thanks a lot.

CO2 offsetting and its potential side-effects attention

I think it is only honest to mention here that the CO2 offsetting concept, as seducing as it can be, is not perfect and could potentially generate some damaging side-effects. Several prominent environmentalists and climate change specialists have raised objections about it (see Manicore website from J.M. Jancovici) and the most acceptable objection in my opinion concerns the impact -positive or negative ?- it will have on the future behavior of those "CO2 neutral" persons. Will they consider carbon offset as a first step towards sustainability and then reduce their emissions in great proportions ... or will they just consider the job done, and continue to drive and fly as if the problem was fixed. The question is : Offsetting, what kind of driving force ?

Quote (unofficial translation of J.M. Jancovici) : “Offsetting" is by essence a "small contribution", but it does not mean it can’t be useful if it prepares the public to make “big contributions” later. Better, if it can be proven that this is the most efficient way to get quickly “big contributions”, then “offsetting” must become mandatory ! It's the "foot in the door" theory, which is a basic in several teaching, sales or even indoctrination methods : aim big but start small. If this argument is valid here, and if “offsetting” is a good way to increase acceptance of more stringent contributions “later”, and is really understood as a first step onto a staircase with many more steps, then obviously this is a good idea.

But … the opposite effect exists as well, when the ”small contribution” is understood as the “big contribution” it isn’t, and prevents the “big contribution” instead of making it happen. In such a case, the "small contribution" masks the urgency to act and puts people at rest while still nothing has been fixed yet. Using the words “offsetting” or “neutral” implies the pollution does not exist anymore. In accounting, “offsetting” means to cancel the consequence of a flow by an opposite flow of equivalent amount, and “neutral” is even more explicit : if I become “CO2 neutral”, it means I do not have any impact on the environment anymore, isn’t it ? Difficult here to feel that this contribution is really, definitely, not enough !

The "big contribution" which is mentioned here, is of course the reduction -vital indeed- of our energy consumption and of our greenhouse gases emissions ...

Carbon offsetting must pair with emissions reductions, otherwise its effects will be marginal, if not counter-productive. Please bear this in mind !!

Aventures Bicyclétales ...

Becoming CO2 neutral ... you can help me ...

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