The Kassandra Project: freedom against disinformation

The other night I decided that we should have sushi for dinner. It was high time for a treat (been a while). My son was out playing basketball … so to keep it simple, I decided to go up the street and get take-out, bring it home and put his portion in the fridge. Meals here are pretty casual. Not exactly strict parenting … I know.

But there was one problem: the plastic containers which I was about to waste.

I’ve tried washing and saving those flimsy one- use plastic containers - they break right away and are useless to keep. I tried bringing my own plastic container, handing it over when I gave my order … however this resulted in the chef getting pissed off, probably miffed that I was criticizing his restaurant’s use of plastic containers. The sushi on that occasion was not up to his usual standard. I hate pissing off a sushi chef.

What to do … what to do.

I know! Eureka, a solution! Just do some “personal carbon trading”, in my mind.

I ride a bike, I don’t drive a car! I hang my laundry on the clothesline to dry, whenever weather allows. I don’t leave the lights on, I use as little heat as possible, and I use my backpack (mostly) rather than plastic bags. This all adds up! My footprint is rather small. In fact, compared with everybody else I know, my ecological footprint is teeny!

Couple of containers once in a while, just doesn’t measure up to any of that. I’m cool.

See how great carbon trading is? It makes you feel like you’re doing nothing wrong, when in fact, you are.

Let’s examine my options here. I could have been brave and brought back my own plastic container, being very firm but polite, and plan to endure a few rounds of not-so-perfect sushi until the chef comes around to my way of thinking. Or, I could just walk a few extra blocks to another sushi place where the chef is not so sensitive. But hey, my fave chef IS sensitive because he’s a cuisine artiste and he is allowed some eccentricities … isn’t he? Or, I could have gone out, found my son and dragged him over to the restaurant, so that we could eat in and use real dishes.

I had a lot of options there. But I just took the easiest one – the one which is rude to the Earth. All because of that little thing that I’m allowed to do, called “carbon trading”.

What a great concept! Making bad things seem good, trading ethics on the marketplace. Brilliant. Which genius thought this up? The Kyoto people? Some right wing genius who owns shares in energy resource harvesting, and who stands to make millions selling “carbon credits” on the market? No doubt.

This sushi story of mine illustrates what carbon trading is all about. It’s about the alleviation of guilt, the ability to walk around feeling good about everything you do, no matter what – as long as you’ve done the math. Carbon trading is a stroke of magic, which converts actions like spewing poison into the atmosphere, into a cause for celebration - because the polluting company has just now bought some shares in an African water project. It turns moral judgment into simply accounting. Pat yourself on the back.

So if you are a dirty polluter, just sign up for some carbon credits today! And make the world a better place, without ever having to change your habits. It’s a good thing.