Car Talk Does Global Warming

Even Car Talk is going green. Car Talk has posted a fun and educational interview with Adam Stein, VP of marketing for TerraPass, and Tom Boucher, president and CEO of NativeEnergy.

TerraPass' mission is to develop and market economically viable products that combat global warming by mitigating human-made environmental emissions. I've written a bunch about NativeEnergy, which is a noted provider of carbon offsets.

(Thanks to the folks at autobloggreen.com for flagging this interview.)

An excerpt:

Car Talk: What does it mean to offset the carbon dioxide that's emitted by your car?

Tom: Think of offsetting as a counterbalance. You're simply taking an extra step to reduce your impact on the environment. Assuming you need to drive, you can't stop your car from emitting carbon dioxide. But, you can fund the construction of new, renewable energy projects that will displace carbon emissions from other sources, like coal burning electricity plants. That's the offset, which is done on your behalf.

Adam: You can sponsor a verified, measurable reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by, for example, funding clean energy projects such as wind farms, methane digesters or efficiency projects. At first it may sound like a shell game, but it really works. And it's surprisingly cheap.


Car Talk: But, just to be upfront, you guys are making money by being a broker. You're getting people to donate to clean energy, and taking a piece off the top, right?

Adam: Yes, there's nothing mysterious about it. We're a retailer. We buy wholesale, sell to customers, and add enough margin to keep our web servers running. Solar panel makers, wind farm developers, biodiesel manufacturers — all are for-profit enterprises. We think it's a good thing when companies can sustain themselves by providing an environmental service. Climate change is a long-term problem, and we hope to be around for the long term as well.

Tom: Business is a very powerful tool, and to solve the climate crisis we need every tool at our disposal. We imagine a world where everyone does well by doing good.