
I declined nearly $10k to teach for an Ivy League school for a week in Shanghai - spodek
http://joshuaspodek.com/turned-10000-shanghai
======
spodek
Here's the original June 2012 Hacker News thread that started the process: "
_I Just Gave Up $4000 Per Month to Keep My Freedom of Speech
(mrmoneymustache.com)_ "

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4144621](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4144621)

And the post it linked to: [http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/06/21/i-just-
gave-up-400...](http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/06/21/i-just-gave-
up-4000-per-month-to-keep-my-freedom-of-speech)

------
sheraz
TLDR; Guy didn't take the gig because flying in a plane makes a lot of
pollution.

So why not just buy a carbon offset, take the flight, and make $10k?

~~~
spodek
Carbon offsets don't take CO2 out of the atmosphere, as far as I've found.
Some may result in some trees being planted, but they mostly replace trees
that were cut down. They don't undo fossil fuels removed from underground.

The carbon capture I'm aware of only stores it for a while, usually to reuse
in a way that puts more CO2 in the atmosphere, like pumping new oil out of the
ground, plus the capture process uses energy. If that energy comes from fossil
fuels, it doesn't remove CO2 from the atmosphere.

As best I can tell, offsets don't lower CO2 levels. On the contrary, I think
psychologically, they motivate people to contribute more greenhouse gases than
they would have otherwise.

I'd love to find out I was wrong, but I'm not aware of any existing process
that net significantly removes CO2 from the atmosphere for the long term. If
anyone knows otherwise, please let me know. I'd love to find out I was wrong.

Also, jet fuel emits more than CO2. Pollution is a separate issue from global
warming.

> _So why not just buy a carbon offset, take the flight, and make $10k?_

That's what the post answers -- how learning one's values experientially and
living them created a better life.

