The growing organic agriculture industry, like most of the world, needs relatively stable climate patterns.
Obviously then, we have to be certain that effective steps are taken to try to prevent radical climate change.
But an investigation by the Financial Times has illustrated that climate change initiatives are being corrupted, or simply scams. More over;
From the investigation;
Some companies are benefiting by asking "green" consumers to pay them for cleaning up their own pollution. For instance, DuPont, the chemicals company, invites consumers to pay $4 to eliminate a tonne of carbon dioxide from its plant in Kentucky that produces a potent greenhouse gas called HFC-23. But the equipment required to reduce such gases is relatively cheap. DuPont refused to comment and declined to specify its earnings from the project, saying it was at too early a stage to discuss.
And in many cases companies are being scammed by other companies - the bottom line being a lack of emissions reductions;
"The FT investigation found:
- Widespread instances of people and organisations buying worthless credits that do not yield any reductions in carbon emissions.
- Industrial companies profiting from doing very little - or from gaining carbon credits on the basis of efficiency gains from which they have already benefited substantially.
- Brokers providing services of questionable or no value.
- A shortage of verification, making it difficult for buyers to assess the true value of carbon credits.
- Companies and individuals being charged over the odds for the private purchase of European Union carbon permits that have plummeted in value because they do not result in emissions cuts.
Francis Sullivan, environment adviser at HSBC, the UK's biggest bank that went carbon-neutral in 2005, said he found "serious credibility concerns" in the offsetting market after evaluating it for several months.
"The police, the fraud squad and trading standards need to be looking into this. Otherwise people will lose faith in it," he said.
Whether our environmental focus is climate itself, organics, chemical pollution, or biodiversity, we had best try to ensure that climate-stabilizing efforts are sincere, and not just another series of greedy scams.
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