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Pelosi makes 'carbon neutral' Europe trip |
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By Mike Soraghan
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Posted: 06/01/07 05:08 PM [ET] |
When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi jetted off last Saturday to Europe for a climate change fact-finding trip, she probably expected questions on how much greenhouse gas her trip would generate.
But Pelosi was one step ahead of the criticism, announcing as she left that she plans to “offset” her carbon dioxide emissions by contributing to the Pacific Forest Trust.
“She felt it was important to show how you can make your emissions neutral,” said Laurie Wayburn, president of the trust.
Pelosi will be covering the carbon cost of the entire eight-member delegation out of her own pocket, rather than through campaign funds or her office allowance.
It’s not clear how much she’ll pay because the figures on Pelosi’s trip are still being calculated. But a passenger flying from San Francisco to New York causes about one ton of carbon to be emitted, and it costs $10 a ton for the forest trust to offset that amount, according to Wayburn.
In doing so, she follows in the exhaust trail of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), who has vowed to offset his carbon emissions out of his own pocket for all of his work and personal travel. California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez has made a similar pledge.
The trend began in December, when Linda Adams, secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency, and her deputy purchased 14 tons of forest carbon offsets for their trip to Nairobi, Kenya, to attend a conference on the Kyoto Protocol.
The money will go to the forest trust’s Van Eck Forest Project, a conservation and stewardship project that aims to reduce approximately 500,000 tons of carbon emissions over a 100-year period.
Wayburn said the money pays for restoration and conservation in the Van Eck Forest, a working redwood forest managed by the forest trust to increase carbon stores and for other goals.
The forest trust also emphasizes the point that forest loss contributes to climate change by reducing the number of trees soaking up carbon dioxide.
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