Word: trees
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...very good at taking something timely that maybe you can't look straight at. That's its true role, making us think about the consequences of our actions now. Avatar is an adventure about how we as humans deal with nature. I'll probably get a reputation as a tree-hugging hippie...
...giving customers an opportunity to spend $2--an almost laughable amount of money--so we can plant a "portion" of a tree, and that tree will consume the carbon dioxide equivalent to the energy production required for the notebook computer over its lifetime. For a desktop computer it'll be $6. If you're going to spend $800 or $1,000 on a computer, why not spend another $2 or $6 to be carbon neutral...
...Take tree planting. Although experts agree that trees do suck up CO2 from the atmosphere, there's still no consensus on just how much a forest can absorb in its lifetime. Scientists estimate that, depending on the soil and climate, a hectare of 1,000 trees can process between five and 10 tons of CO2 each year. But the longer the time span, the harder the absorption is to predict. Some companies, such as London's Carbon Clear, say they invest not just in planting trees, but also in ensuring they thrive. But others may not be so diligent...
...businesses keen to brandish their green credentials, this uncertainty is troublesome. In October, Britain's Advertising Standards Authority upheld a complaint against Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) after it was unable to prove its claim to absorb through tree planting the 140,000 tons of CO2 produced each year by customers. An SSE spokesman admits that scientific uncertainty made it impossible to verify that the 150,000 trees it had planted in the U.K., Brazil and Guatemala covered its assertion...
While some firms, like PC maker Dell, are still willing to sponsor major reforestation initiatives, others aren't taking chances. HSBC steered clear of trees when it successfully offset 170,000 tons of its emissions for the last quarter of 2005 through investments in renewable energy projects. "However many trees we planted around the world, we could not keep up [with global CO2 output]", says Francis Sullivan, the bank's environment adviser. HSBC looks, he says, for more efficient uses of its money, such as its investment in a wind farm in New Zealand. Tree planting, Sullivan says...