The conference on longevity at Convergence08 has now been booked and I am looking forward to meeting other ‘longevity enthusiasts’.

Having decided to go to the conference, and having recently seen An Inconvenient Truth‘ Al Gores’s film on climate change/global warming, I wanted to offset the environmental damage caused by my flight.

(OK – I know the best choice for the environment is not to go; but that was not my choice.

Snake Oil

Googling ‘carbon offset’ I came across the British Airways website who had pulled out of a scheme to offset emissions because of too many people ‘peddling snake oil’.

Checking out one or two of the ‘offset’ sites I got the same feeling; just who is monitoring and auditing the offsets? And are they actually doing additional things to reduce climate change that would not otherwise be done?

One company pursued a project to distribute low-energy light bulbs to poor areas in South Africa; only to find that the local power company was also distributing these for free.

Virgin Has An Idea

I thought I’d check what Virgin Atlantic airlines was up to.

Their scheme sounds as good as I am likely to get. It seems that the Gold Standard is what to look out for in separating the probably valuable from the dodgy or the well meaning but ineffective.

The company chosen by Virgin is myclimate, whose schemes are rated Gold Standard.

myclimate are ranked in the top 3 of 170 carbon offset companies (ENDS carbon offset guide). A review of the market by Tufts University, Boston, says myclimate are: "an excellent choice for offsetting air travel emission".

So, while acknowledging that that ideal solution for the environment is to stop flying altogether, if you are going to fly you should consider offsetting.

And if you are offsetting, you need to do a bit of research into who to use. I suggest you consider myclimate.

As well as for our children, if we are going to live a very long time ourselves, we have to help ensure the world is still supporting life for a long time to come.

Longevity Conference is a post from: Living To 150

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