[asa] Green hopes died in the arid soil of India (Bad Carbon "Offsets")

"Why am I posting an almost year-old article
about a second-rate British pop band's carbon
offset attempts? Because Algore's company, Global
Investment Management LLP, also
<http://www.generationim.com/news/memberships.html>uses
this same company for their supposed carbon
offsets. This might also be the company that GIM
used to supposedly offset the Algore house's
"carbon footprint" on Algore's behalf.

It has a very questionable
past."
<http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1795246/posts?page=1#1>1
posted on 03/04/2007 8:55:09 PM EST by conservative in nyc

~ Janice :) ...... You can see how much
warming you can save via "carbon offsets" here:
The Real Carbon Footprint
Calculator http://www.junkscience.com/Greenhouse/offset_calc.html

<http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1795246/posts>How
Coldplay's green hopes died in the arid soil of India (Bad Carbon "Offsets")
<http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1795246//^http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/04/30/ngreen30.xml>The
Telegraph ^ | 4/29/06 | Amrit Dhillon and Toby Harnden
Posted on 03/04/2007 8:55:04 PM EST by
<http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1795246//~conservativeinnyc/>conservative
in nyc
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1795246/posts

When Coldplay released its second hit album, A
Rush of Blood to the Head, the band said that
part of the environmental damage caused by its
production would be offset by the planting of
10,000 mango trees in southern India.

More than four years after the album's release,
however, many of Coldplay's good intentions have
withered in the arid soil of Gudibanda, Karnataka
state, where the saplings it sponsored were planted.

The idea of saving the world while making music
was proposed by Future Forests, a British company
since renamed CarbonNeutral. It declared that the
scheme would soak up carbon dioxide emissions and
help to improve the livelihoods of local farmers.

"You can dedicate more saplings in Coldplay's
forest, a specially-selected section in
Karnataka, India," its website said. For £17.50,
fans could invest in the scheme and receive a
certificate packaged in a tube bearing the words "The Coldplay Forest".

Other musicians, including Dido, KT Tunstall and
Feeder followed Coldplay's example. CarbonNeutral
meanwhile, gave the task of planting the trees to
a group called Women for Sustainable Development
(WSD), as part of a £33,000 contract. WSD is
headed by Anandi Sharan Mieli, 44, born in
Switzerland of Indian origin and a Cambridge
graduate. She now claims that the scheme was doomed from the outset.

In the impoverished villages of Varlakonda,
Lakshmisagara and Muddireddihalli, among the
dozen that Miss Mieli said had received mango
saplings, no one had heard of Coldplay. Most of
those who received saplings said they had not
been given funding for labour, insecticide or
spraying equipment to nurture them.

One woman, called Jayamma was the only person out
of 130 families in Lakshmisagara, to receive
saplings from Miss Meili, according to
Ashwattamma, a farmer's wife. She said: "No one
else got any trees. Some of us were offered
saplings but we don't have any water."

Jayamma managed to get 50 of her 150 trees to
survive because she had a well on her land. "I
was promised 2,000 rupees (£26) every year to
take care of the plants and a bag of fertiliser.
But I got only the saplings," she said.

In nearby Varlakonda, about 10 families were
given approximately 1,400 saplings. Of these,
just 600 survived. Another farmer who took 100
saplings, said: "[Miss Meili] promised us that
she'd arrange the water." But villagers said a tanker came only twice.

The land in Gudibanda is dry and rocky. Farmers
depend on rainfall but the monsoon failed every
year between 1995 and 2004, causing drought.

One of the few successes are the 300 mango trees
owned by Narayanamma, 69, and her husband
Venkatarayappa, 74. They were apparently the only
couple to receive 4,000 rupees from Miss Meili.
They also spent 30,000 rupees on tankers and
labourers. "We were promised money for
maintenance every year but got nothing," said Narayanamma.

Sitting in her spacious house in Bangalore, Miss
Meili said that she had distributed 8,000
saplings and acknowledged that 40 per cent had
died. The project had foundered, she said,
because of inadequate funding. She accused Future
Forests of having a "condescending" attitude.
"They do it for their interests, not really for
reducing emissions. They do it because it's good
money," she said. CarbonNeutral said that it did
not fund the whole programme and that WSD had a
contractual responsibility to provide irrigation
and support to farmers. Jonathan Shopley, the
chief executive, conceded that while the project
might still succeed, it had "struggled to reach its full potential". .."

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Received on Sun Mar 4 23:48:14 2007