British Columbia Carbon Credits

From 24 March 2012: “Carbon credits! Honey, we can make millions! All we have to do is refrain from logging around the cabin. The government will give us money.” “That’s crazy.” “No, it’s a government program. Our 17 acres covered with trees...that’s a lot of carbon dioxide getting sucked out of the atmosphere.” “They’re just little trees. They won’t be big enough to log for two hundred years.” “Doesn’t matter. Trees are trees. Each one could make a 2 x 4, at least. Anyway, no one is measuring them. ” “But the first eight years we owned the property, we did nothing but burn logging slash left by the previous owners. Didn’t that emit carbon dioxide?” “That was ‘site preparation.’ Remember those 100 Douglas-fir seedlings we planted? Reforestation! More carbon credits.” “That was 1992. The carbon credit law was only passed in 2007.” “That’s the beauty of it: it’s retroactive!” “Yeah, but they’re still baby trees. What about all the grown-up trees we cut for building logs?” “Right! Those logs are still there, sequestering away. Four sides, 10 logs high: 40 trees. At a cubic meter of carbon dioxide per tree, that’s 40 cubic meters per year of carbon dioxide we’re sequestering...every year!” “...and the trees we cut for firewood every year? That pours carbon dioxide up the chimney?” “It stops us from using coal! More carbon credits! We’ll make a fortune!" “That’s crazy.” “Honey, it’s saving the planet. And it’s the law here in BC.”