This isn’t an article for Scientific America.  I am not a scientist.  I am just an average American struggling to make sense of all this talk of global warming and carbon offsets.  To do so I tapped into my somewhat rusty research skills and came up with the following:

Global warming is a much debated topic that even our top political leaders can’t agree on.  Headlines this week show a former vice president and state governor/former candidate battling it out in the newspapers.

Is global warming or isn’t global warming real?

Some folks say the real debate is not IF global warming is occurring but that there is some disagreement as to how fast it is occurring and how much of an impact the activities of humanity have on the speed.  Most agree that change is happening: the polar icecaps are getting smaller, glaciers are dropping off pieces, islands are shrinking and shorelines are creeping up along the coastlines.

Is global warming or isn’t global warming a real threat to the world?

Our planet has undergone numerous climate changes and continues to survive.  It will likely survive another whether it be global warming or ice age.  There are several natural phenomenons are possibly in our future, including the much talked about planetary alignment predicted for 2012.  Science tells us these things go on all the time in the universe.

The real question is global warming a threat to humanity?

Island empires think so.  The question is being raised as to what will become of their government autonomy if they are forced to move their populations to a mainland location?  At least one regime has been purchasing land on a neighboring continent to provide a place to relocate his people when the need arises.

World food banks think so and want people to know that the poor are likely to be the first to feel the impact of climate changes.  They note that this was evident following such disasters as Katrina or the Tsunami of (?).  The poor do not have the means to relocate their families to hotels or travel great distances quickly.

Military leaders predict that new wars will develop only over the relocation of people who are displaced by rising oceans, water and food shortages, disease and shortage caused by force migrations.  As temperatures rise three things are said to happen:

1. Ice caps melt and cause sea levels to rise and flood islands and shoreline communities.
2. Climate changes affect the growing season of local crops.
3. Resources in some formerly artic climates may become more easily accessable.

This third response is also a concern because the increased accessibility to natural resources in areas where access was previously hamper by extreme cold, such as Alaska and the Poles is likely to inspire new strife as nations jockey for control of previously remote and unproductive locations.

No matter which camp is correct on this subject, the political tension is likely to rise as more people become of aware of the debate.  More people like me are taking their heads out of the sand and are starting to take a closer look at the changes around them.  Some like me are slowly waking up to the need to take a stand and ask ourselves some difficult questions.

So what if anything can we do about global warming?

There are two apparent options that are obvious to me, the non-scientist.  We can reduce are contribution by cutting back our use of fossil fuels and waste production, perhaps even changing our eating habits or we can work toward replacing the rain forests that are being depleted by expanding populations.

How do Carbon Offsets Reduce Green House Gases and Slow Global Warming?

So how do carbon offsets fit into this picture?

Carbon offsets are (according to Wikipedia) a financial instrument aimed at the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions through the support of projects that produce increased use of renewable energy sources or replenishing vegetation.  Although they are most often purchased by corporations to help keep their greenhouse gases levels in compliance with government regulations, there is also a move toward voluntary individual purchases of carbon offsets to compensate for greenhouse gas emissions.  Our recent trip to Australia is one example where we had the opportunity to pay an carbon offset fee at the time we purchased our air tickets.  Qantas has this option built in to the ticketing process.

Some folks while choosing to maintain their current life styles also calculate the impact their choices have on the environment and purchase carbon offset credits to compensate for their  larger carbon footprint.

Do you know how big your carbon footprint is?  You can calculate your carbon footprint and learn more about buying carbon offsets from the Offset Alliance Newsletter.

I am an ostrich by nature. Most of my life I have spent sticking my head in the sand and deliberately ignoring the doom and gloom warnings that surround me.

Global warming is no new topic.  As a seventeen year old freshman, attending Cal Poly in 1966 I was first enlightened to the dangers of fossil fuels and their probable impact on the climate.  I took the warnings with a grain of salt but as a precaution,  bought a fuel efficient import and produced only one offspring.  Later studies revealed that my behavior and reaction or lack there of was based on another facet of my personality.

I am a Polly Anna by nature too. I have always had faith that the human race would continue their study of the sciences and find new technological solutions to the problems of pollution and global warming: alternative fuels, more efficient vehicles, etc.

So why change now?

Oddly enough, the changing economy has been one of the factors that motivated my change of heart or mind.  As my retirement coincided with the major economic upheaval in the world, I have been inspired to pursue a new career to fill both my golden years and my dwindling bank account.  Having spent 20 years working in a computer based field I am venturing into a new venue of internet marketing.  This has been challenging in more than one way.   First, technology continues to evolve as a break neck speed and it isn’t all that easy for my senior brain to keep up.

Second and even more important is the fact that I can’t market just anything.  In order to represent a product I must have faith that it will be worth the price paid and not add to the woeful state of the world.  So in order to market a product related to global warming I feel the need to brush up my research skills and come up with my take on the relevant issues at hand: global warming, carbon offsets, calculating carbon footprints, etc.

So stay tuned for future episodes in the re-education of a Senior GISP.

Note:  Today I came across an incredible site by Anup Shah on global issues aptly entitled GlobalIssues.org.  My initial reaction to his site was why am I bothering to write this article?  I thought Shah has been publishing his site for over ten years and has said it all.  However, reading further I discovered that Shah’s site encompasses a much wider spectrum of global issues than this blog will touch upon so I will continue my efforts.  One line on his About page inspired me to continue.  In answer to the question “What are my qualifications?” he responded “you don’t need to have qualifications to be concerned and want to do something, although you do need the time to sift through a lot of information to understand what is happening!”

Time I have and I find the concern is growing, so bear with me as I seek to understand these issues and share them with you.

Green Jobs

By Tom Savage

Whether you’re a rampant green activist or gas-guzzling climate change sceptic, one fact can surely no longer be disputed: Green jobs are on the rise.

Why? Because they are the lifeblood of the government’s attempts to lever Britain out of the financial crisis. Business Secretary Lord Peter Mandelson talks about the opportunity to build a high-tech, low carbon economy as we emerge from recession. What this means in practice is that, from energy security to infrastructure investment, green initiatives are being paraded as the phoenix that will enable us to breathe life into the ashes of the economy. They also conveniently solve some pressing environmental issues.

Although many of these plans have yet to reach fruition, they will. So it’s a good time to consider a green career. Green jobs encompass a widening scope of roles from hydrologists to engineers, architects to advertising, waste workers to financiers, plumbers to project managers, marketers to retailers.

They will all be in demand as public spending kicks in and the private sector responds. But green jobs also provide the answer to a bigger piece of the puzzle, one that’s often overlooked: providing meaning in people’s careers.

If you factor in the additional value of working in a career that contributes positively to the environment and that equates to greater personal fulfillment, it’s not surprising that more people are getting excited about green jobs.

Much of the macro-level discussions about the environmental or financial crises are difficult for the general public to get to grips with, encouraging apathy or disillusionment.

Yet, if people start to see a real impact on the ground through increased job availability, and those jobs deliver an increase in job satisfaction and meaning, that’s when people will start to sit up and listen.

Linking green jobs and meaning may be somewhat tenuous for some, but the numbers of people coming to Bright Green Talent looking for a green job are indeed meaningful. They are searching for something that could give them a sense of self-worth, rather than solely to benefit the environment.

Green jobs are not simply found in new sectors or regulators, like wind farms and public sector agencies — they are appearing in more and more “traditional” careers as there is a shift in acceptance of environmental conservation and energy efficiency.

Just look at the resources that Marks & Spencer is dedicating to its environment initiative called Plan A. This is not a trend to be ignored by jobseekers or employers looking to create greater meaning in their workplace.

Those who are already green job-hunting will have noticed that they’re not alone. The increased pressure on the job market, coupled with the anticipated surge in green jobs has already caused a wave of jobseeker interest. But there’s plenty of room for newcomers.

The demand for workers will come not just from government initiatives but from the private sector.

Social and environmental entrepreneurs are prospering despite the economic crisis. They generate a profit but do so in pursuit of a healthy planet. As they prosper and grow, they will find it easier to attract the best people.

Tips for Finding a Green Job

* The easiest way to get a green job is to transform the one you have!

* Use your experience when you are hunting for a green job — it’s somewhat difficult to go from a secretary to a marine biologist in a year, be realistic.

* Use a recruiter — the good ones will work in your favor and cost you nothing.

* If you’re applying for a job, don’t think about it from your perspective, instead try to get into the head of the employer and work out what they need.

* Do your research — nothing annoys employers more than clueless applicants.

* Sometimes the job you want won’t be advertised, plus the ones that are will have a flood of applicants. Try approaching the “right” company for you outside their normal recruiting cycle.

Tom is the founder of Bright Green Talent, helping to place people in green jobs worldwide. He’s also a recent explorer of simplicity. To read more about his journey, visit http://www.simpletom.co.uk More musings from Tom can be found at http://twitter.com/brightgreen

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By Abraham R Chacko

According to Wikipedia, ‘A carbon footprint is a measure of the impact that human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide.’

Individuals, nations and businesses are able to conceptualize their personal carbon dioxide contribution by means of the Carbon Footprint and thus react responsibly to the problem of global warming by reducing individual footprints.

The conceptual opposite of carbon footprint is ‘carbon offset’, or the removal of carbon emissions through use of alternate gadgets/technologies/processes that adequately reduce carbon emissions.

Global warming is caused by the accumulation of greenhouse gases (primarily carbon-di-oxide, or CO2) in the upper levels of the earth’s atmosphere. The earth receives and releases heat periodically to maintain its balance. However, greenhouse gases interfere with the heat capture-and-release cycle by forming a kind of ’shield’ or ‘barrier’ that prevents heat rays escaping from the earth. This leads to the gradual accumulation of heat in the atmosphere and consequent rise in temperatures all over the globe (the phenomenon that we all know as ‘global warming’). Its consequences are all too well known by now – ecological imbalances, rise in the level of water in the oceans (hence, the seas gradually entering and taking up the dry land on which we live), outbreak of several, dangerous diseases, catastrophic changes in weather and a myriad other effects.

Carbon footprint is a quantity (measured in pounds, kilo grams etc.) on account of the obvious advantages that numbers have over subjective verbal descriptions – some of these are discussed below:

A) Ability to quantify and compare objectively: Consider activity ‘A’ that has a 50 pound (carbon) footprint (say, driving a distance of 2 miles by car) and activity ‘B’ that has a 10 pound footprint (possibly, jogging the same distance). On account of carbon footprint being a number, we can say without any ambiguity or uncertainty that ‘A’ has a bigger carbon footprint compared to ‘B’, since 50 is greater than 10. (Hence, if A and B are activities that serve the same purpose, it will be beneficial to do less of A and more of B instead).

B) Ability to sum-up and Prioritize: (Carbon) footprint of industrial work-processes can be determined by summing up the footprints of their constituent activities. It is, therefore, possible to identify those work-processes that have bigger footprints and deal with them first while leaving out less important ones for later remedial action

C) Ability to forecast and aid better planning in cases of maintenance and new industrial projects

D) Statistics made possible and thus monitoring (control/feedback) of carbon-offset/carbon footprint reduction exercises

E) Enables precise calculation of taxes and other Government levies in case legislation is enforced at any point in time restraining the carbon footprints of businesses/individuals to acceptable limits

F) At a global level, to identify countries that are the biggest contributors to global warming

Like to know what your carbon footprint is? Then visit http://www.bp.com/iframe.do?categoryId=9027929&contentId=7050956 now!

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