Offsetting My World Cup Carbon Footprint

So... I just logged in to check my email this evening and I saw an email from FIFA with the following subject:

"Help protect the environment and earn a chance to win tickets to the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ Final!"

Protect the environment? Win tickets to the World Cup Final this summer in Brazil? At the same time?! Count me in!

As excited as I was, I opened the email with a good bit of skepticism. I became even more skeptical after reading the first paragraph. Apparently, I can offset my greenhouse gas emissions from traveling to and from the World Cup with just a few clicks of the mouse trackpad (I have a MacBook).

So I clicked on the link, arrived at the sign-up page, and began going through the process. After all, there are tickets to the final in Rio at stake (including travel and accommodation)!

I already have a FIFA account, so I logged in, indicated what country I will be traveling from (the United States), entered my ticket request ID, and clicked "offset." And just like that, they promised to offset the estimated 6,039kg of CO2 I will emit from my journey.

Offsetting my carbon emissions simply means balancing the greenhouse gas emissions from me traveling to the World Cup by removing or completely avoiding them somewhere else. This results in a zero net release of (mainly) carbon dioxide (CO2). In carbon trading schemes, like the European Union's Emissions Trading System, polluters have to pay for the ability to pollute by buying permits from companies who reduced their emissions. But I get to do it for free??

According to the FIFA Carbon Footprint Summary Report, the equivalent of about 2.7 million tons of CO2 will be released from this summer's World Cup, 84% of which will be from transportation (6,039kg of CO2 from me).

I want to know exactly how my, and other people's, carbon emissions will be offset. What kind of carbon offsetting projects are they undertaking?

What I do know is when carbon dioxide is emitted, it has one of three places to go: the atmosphere, the oceans, or terrestrial vegetation (trees, plants, etc.). So the projects will probably combine CO2 emission reduction and CO2 sequestration (storage) efforts. But what exactly? And how are they being funded? How can 50,000 free sign-ups be enough to "reach your goal"?

The only thing I found out here was that all of the projects will be in Brazil and they have been "hand-selected and verified" by FIFA and BP Target Neutral, British Petroleum's non-profit carbon management program.

Wait, what? BP? One of the world's largest oil companies? Smells a bit like greenwash to me. Remember BP's Deepwater Horizon incident? Yeah, that one.

I'm gonna look into this more...

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The Economics of Natural Resource Management

Economics can be defined as "the study of the production, distribution, and consumption of wealth in human society." It looks at how individuals and groups make decisions, with the limited amount of resources available, to best satisfy their wants and needs. These choices, added together, are how we manage the tradable natural resources of the Earth. But how do we manage the non-tradable Global Commons?

As you may have guessed from that introduction, not all of the natural resources impacted by economic activity and valued by people are allocated by our markets. One example is our atmosphere, which gives us air to breath and protects us from the harshness of space. Burning fossil fuels and releasing ozone-depleting chemicals decreases the atmosphere's ability to provide us with a stable global climate and protect us from UV radiation, and therefore has impacted the well-being of people around the globe. Meanwhile, no portion of the atmosphere was ever owned, bought, or sold (for the most part).

As you can see, there are special management issues associated with Earth's natural resources that can't be traded on the markets. These issues require a different way of thinking from the management challenges associated with commodities, which markets themselves do a good job of managing.

The difference in thinking stems from transaction externalities - impacts of economic activity on other parties (and yourself). While certain wants and needs are being met, there other more basic wants and needs - clean air and clean water - that are being sacrificed. Developing ways to mitigate these impacts, which are not reflected in the cost of the associated products or services, is at the heart of natural resource management.

The goals of natural resource management are, as with so many other things in life, also its constraints. In no particular order, the goals of natural resource management are to maximize economic performance, address distributional equity, and to accommodate physical and institutional constraints.

Maximizing economic performance means allocating resources as efficiently as possible within society. It concerns the benefits received by both producers and consumers. Efficient allocation of resources maximizes the benefits received by all.

Addressing distributional equity concerns the fairness with which resources are allocated in society. An uneven distribution of wealth and skills reduces the ability of some individuals to benefit from the economic performance of an economy. Therefore, this goal concerns how this inequity can be mitigated.

Accommodating physical constraints simply involves recognizing that the Earth's natural resources are finite, some will last longer than others, and some are more accessible than others.

Institutional constraints include laws and regulations that firms and individuals must comply with in order to avoid penalties. One must decide whether and how to comply with these requirements. Each decision (full compliance, partial compliance, or non-compliance) implies different social, economic, and environmental consequences.

Resource managers make decisions in an attempt to accomplish these goals within applicable constraints. These decisions determine the provision and use of resources. So, which resources will be developed? At what levels? Over what time period? What regulations apply? What are the penalties for partial or non-compliance?

In the United States, the primary mechanism for allocating resources is the market. Economists recognize the ability of markets to direct resources to their most valuable uses. Markets accomplish this with prices, which signal the value of resources to society. Because members of society are required to pay the costs of using resources, markets encourage us to examine the alternative uses of resources and to choose the most valuable one. While markets do this automatically for many resources that are privately owned, markets have trouble accomplishing this for resources that are not privately owned - the commons.

Examples of un-priced resources include airsheds and watersheds. These natural resources have alternative uses including recreation, air and water purification, and dispersion of pollutants. However, the costs associated with those uses are usually not recognized in the prices that are set by markets. Without prices to represent the associated costs, markets will treat these resources as essentially free. Any resource that is provided free of charge is virtually guaranteed to be overused.

This is particularly troublesome when that resource provides us with life-sustaining services. When that occurs, markets fail to allocate resources in the most valuable manner to society (value means more than money). Government intervention in the form of laws and regulations is then justified to correct these market failures. This is not to suggest that markets do not fulfill an important role in resource allocation. Rather, markets sometimes require targeted adjustments to adequately reflect the costs of all affected resources and to allocate resources in the most beneficial way to society.

Given that, we are left with the following three implications for air, land, and water resource management:

1. A completely free market system will generate excessive amounts of unwanted and harmful pollution. We saw this as the west industrialized and now, as the developing world catches up.

2. Appropriate standards for environmental quality can be determined by examining the costs and benefits of pollution abatement.

3. Once an environmental standard has been established, public policies can be designed to accomplish that goal in a cost-effective manner.

The markets have done a decent job to date of managing our natural resources (with a little help from some targeted policies), but we can do much better.

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The Upcoming FIFA World Cup

A quick introduction to this and all future soccer posts:

Another one of my passions, in addition to environmental science, teaching, and traveling (which this blog is mostly about), is soccer. I freaking love it. I've played my entire life. When I'm not playing, I'm watching - or trying to.

It has been hard here in Saudi Arabia not having the appropriate TV channels or easily accessible, organized soccer I had back in D.C. Other than an occasional training session - if you can call it that - with a group of neighborhood Sudanese kids on a gravel field, I haven't been able to get my fix.

But I have some soccer to look forward to this summer. Can you guess what I'm talking about?

Yup. THE FIFA WORLD CUP IN BRAZIL.

I booked my flight, purchased a game ticket, and arranged accommodation with a friend in Sao Paulo. Because I'm currently living in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, I've sent my documents (including passport) to the Brazilian Embassy in Riyadh for the special World Cup visa. Fingers crossed that goes smoothly.

Anyway, here are my thoughts on the groups and my predictions on who will go through to the knockout round. Remember, the top two in each group advance.

In group A, we have hosts Brazil, lucky qualifiers Mexico, Croatia, and Cameroon. I think it's safe to say Brazil will go through in first place. But the second place team is a little tougher to pick. Mexico was LUCKY to qualify - I think they finish last. Any team that comes out of Europe doesn't exactly suck, especially when Belgium is in that group, and Cameroon boasts players from some top European clubs. I'm gonna go with Brazil and Croatia.

In group B, there is previous World Cup winner Spain, previous World Cup runner-up The Netherlands, Chile, and Australia. Spain and Holland SHOULD go through. But if Chile takes 3 points against Australia in their first game and leave enough gas in the tank to get at least one point from either Spain or Holland, and the Spain-Holland result is favorable, and depending on goal differential, we could see one of the previous World Cup finalists miss out on the second round. This isn't too farfetched of a scenario. But I'm gonna play it safe and stick with Spain and Holland advancing.

Group C brings to the table Colombia, Greece, Ivory Coast, and Japan. Colombia came in second place behind Argentina in South American qualifying. Not too shabby, even without having to face Brazil in qualification (the host automatically qualifies for the World Cup). Greece is a gritty team. Ivory Coast is talented. Japan's work rate is unmatched. This is a tough one. I'm gonna go with Colombia and Ivory Coast.

Sorry Costa Rica, but good luck in group D. Uruguay, if your ridiculously talented strikers perform well, then you will go through. England, since you are well-coached and strong down the center of the pitch, with a little bit of luck, you will go through. Italy is definitely going through. They want redemption after their poor showing at the last World Cup in South Africa, where they failed to advance past the group stage. My gut tells me it's England's time. They will join Italy in the second round.

Group E is decently straightforward. Ecuador and Honduras will give them problems, but I think France and Switzerland will move on. I'm going with the European sides again in this group.

Group F should be pretty straightforward as well. Argentina will go through. I'm really pulling for Iran, because they are my people, but I don't have high hopes. Nigeria, who have failed to impress in the final tournament since their runs in 1994 and 1998, stand little chance as well against the powerhouse from South America and UEFA Group G winners Bosnia and Herzegovina. Argentina and Bosnia go through.

Group G. Oh, group G. Us United States fans are going to be waiting AT LEAST another four years for some sort of World Cup success to brag about. What a group to draw. But if you wanna be the best, you gotta beat the best (at any time), right? Anyway, this group could play out a lot like group B, with Ghana squeaking through to the second round if they can take 3 points from the Americans and at least one point from either Germany or Portugal. The Germany-Portugal result must also be favorable, which isn't too unlikely at all. I'm going with Germany and Portugal, but watch out for Ghana. Sorry U.S.A.

Finally, there is group H. Belgium will win the group. Hands down. This group winner is as easy to pick as the winner in group A. They really impressed in qualifying, winning their group with game(s) to spare. This generation of players is extremely talented and experienced in the top European leagues. Look for them to make a run in the knockout round too, although they could run into trouble early with group G containing the likes of Germany and Portugal (the top 2 teams in groups G and H face each other in the first knockout round). Algeria came out of Africa, which is no easy task, but barely got past Burkina Faso in the final round of qualifying. South Korea is another usual suspect from Asia with an incredible work rate. Russia won their qualifying group in Europe. Europe will send two more representatives to the next round, Belgium and Russia.

Those are my picks. Now to follow up with the Brazilian embassy in Riyadh.

UPDATE: I got my visa and I'm ready to go! Two more weeks!

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8 Environmental Science Words Defined For You by an Environmental Science Teacher

1) Anthropocene
The Anthropocene is the current, informal geologic time period that began when humans started having a "significant" impact on Earth and its processes. Some scientists believe this epoch began when we transitioned from a hunter-gatherer society to an agrarian one. Others believe we entered the Anthropocene at the start of the Industrial Revolution. Either way, agriculture and the innovations that followed have had a profound impact on the global ecosystem - and us.

2) Anthropogenic
An adjective meaning something was caused by human activity. The word is usually used to refer to pollutants and/or pollution.

3) Carbon
When someone says "carbon", they are usually referring to either the element itself or the carbon-containing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (usually CO2 because of its impact on our climate).

This is a good segway to the next term...

4) Carbon Neutral
When something is "carbon neutral", it means that net-zero carbon emissions is achieved by offsetting the carbon dioxide (or other greenhouse gas measured in CO2 equivalence) emitted into the atmosphere. This can be done by carbon sequestration activities (ex: planting trees) or buying carbon credits (another entity somewhere else reduced their carbon emissions and sold their carbon credit to you to subtract from your emissions).

5) Biome
Biomes are the world's major ecological communities. They encompass all species within those communities and are classified by the vegetation found in them, the spatial arrangement of which is not accidental. As the different species of plants within these communities evolved, they competed for sunlight, water, and nutrients and arranged themselves in the most optimal way to take advantage of the resources available within the biome.

6) Biosphere
Forget about geometry, the biosphere isn't actually a sphere. In fact, it isn't a particular shape at all. Rather, it is the sum of all living organisms on Earth and the organic matter produced by them. It is constantly interacting with Earth's other three major spheres - the hydrosphere, atmosphere, and lithosphere - exchanging and circulating energy and matter. The biosphere also interacts constantly with the Anthrosphere, the part of the environment made or modified by humans for our activities.

7) Ozone
Ozone (O3), is a naturally occurring and secondary air pollutant that exists throughout the atmosphere. The highest concentrations are found in a layer of the stratosphere known as the ozone layer. This is "good" ozone because it protects us from the harmful effects of UV radiation and helps to limit the amount of energy reaching the Earth's surface, thus helping to regulate the climate. There are also significant quantities of ozone in urban areas (near the surface of the Earth) due to human activity. This "bad" ozone damages living tissue and other materials.

8) Plankton
Plankton are microscopic living organisms that drift around in marine and freshwater (aquatic) environments. They form the bottom of the food chain in these environments and can be divided into three main groups:

Phytoplankton (producers) - Tiny (usually a single cell) algae that take energy from the sun and CO2 from their surroundings and store that energy in simple sugars and other organic compounds. The food chain begins...
Zooplankton (consumers) - These are slightly bigger plankton that feed on the phytoplankton, and are then eaten by smaller fish. The energy begins to flow up the food chain...
Bacterioplankton (recyclers) - These tiny organisms help to cycle nutrients through the water column to support the activity and productivity of other plankton, and thus the rest of the food web.

Depending on who you ask, you may or may not get different definitions for these words. But I feel this is a good starting point.

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Why Cities, Nuclear Power, and Genetically Modified Foods Are Good Things

Okay, now that I've run out of things to post about from spring break, I can get back to the environmental science-y stuff.

Click here for a TED talk given by Stewart Brand of The Long Now Foundation. He is a self-described environmentalist (like me!) and one of the men behind the environmental movement of the 1960's and 1970's and the energy conservation measures used to level off California's energy consumption for the past 30 years while their economy grew by roughly 80%.

The video is an accompaniment to his recent book "Whole Earth Discipline", in which he argues that cities, nuclear power, genetically modified foods, and geo-engineering, although labeled as taboo by many environmentalists and governments, are good for the future of Earth and humankind.

Regarding cities: According to Mr. Brand, rapid global urbanization is the dominant demographic event of our time. Each week, 1.3 million people worldwide leave rural areas for the opportunities available in urban areas. There are currently about 1 billion squatters helping to "build" the urban world, with another 1 billion expected by the time the Earth's population levels off around mid-century.

He expects the world's population to level off around 8.1 billion in the 2040's then drop rapidly. The world's population is expected to be 80% urban by 2050 - mostly in the developing world.

Slums (a major component of cities worldwide), Brand argues, do not undermine prosperity. Rather, they create it. In his eyes, the people there are not crushed by poverty. Instead they are all helping each other get out of poverty faster than if they remained subsistence farmers.

What's just as important is they are doing this in the "informal economy", with undeeded, unlicensed, and untaxed people, property, and businesses. They are full of social capital and chomping at the formal economy bit. We can help them join by giving them access to sanitation, electricity, and clean water, among other things.

Cities and slums are not only good for prosperity, he argues, but they are also "green." The close proximity of general supply and demand and better connectivity means fewer emissions and less waste generated by people getting to where they need to go.

Cities also "defuse" the population bomb, as increased opportunity leads to a decreased birth rate. Another way of putting it - children are an asset on the farms, but a liability in the cities.

Less people means less stress on the Earth and its systems. Imagine if every city-dweller converted to the American Dream way of life with a big house in the suburbs, 3 kids, and a couple of cars. Our total ecological footprint would be multiple Earths.

Cities and slums are also good - and green - because people are leaving subsistence farming, which Mr. Brand refers to as an "ecological disaster." Deforestation and desertification from poor agricultural practices is halted and the natural environment is allowed to return to normal, helping to regulate the climate and providing other ecological services humans depend on.

Brand is also rethinking his position on nuclear energy, another environmental "no-no." According to him, climate change is happening, will continue to happen faster than we expect, and we will keep being surprised by more and more disasters. Climate refugees, resource wars, and chaos wars will be all too common. Part of the climate change solution? Nuclear power.

More nuclear power will mean less coal and natural gas being burned for baseload electricity - the main driver of climate change. The developing world is leading the way in planning, approving, and building nuclear reactors to reduce the amount of solid and atmospheric waste (CO2) they produce. Governments can do their part, he argues, by making coal and other fossil fuels more expensive.

Oh yeah... he also thinks genetically modified foods are a good thing, which a lot of other environmentalists would whole-heartedly disagree with. He explains that GM crops allow for no-till farming, which keeps soil in place, reducing the amount of CO2 that is released from the soil into the atmosphere. GM crops also reduce pesticide use while increasing yield, which reduces the amount of land required to grow food.

That freed up land? It can return to its natural state. It shouldn't even be a debate anymore according to Brown.

Geo-engineering, mainly pumping sulfur compounds and other aerosols into the atmosphere to improve the reflectivity of the Earth's atmosphere and cool the climate, is another good and affordable idea, he argues.

As someone with a pretty decent environmental science background, I'm fully on board with all of this. Except maybe the GM foods... For me, environmental science is not only about improving the environment, but also improving the quality of life for everyone. Part of improving our quality of life is eating healthy, natural foods. And I have to wonder just how healthy GM foods are and what the long term health implications are.

In his (slightly modified) words: "We are as Gods, so we might as well... no, HAVE to, get good at it."

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12 Pictures of Al Murjan Beach Resort in Jeddah

In addition to Silver Sands Beach, I was also able to make it to Al Murjan Beach Resort this past weekend.

The beach area itself at Al Murjan is not as nice as Silver Sands Beach, but it makes up for it with a cool layout. The pier extends out into the Red Sea where you can go enjoy the ocean breezes and look down the coastline at downtown Jeddah. The passageways beneath the pier look fun too. There is also an island in the middle of the mini-bay that you can swim around or pull yourself up on to smoke a Hookah. A swimming pool and snack bar round things out.

Finding Al Murjan beach involved the same googling, driving around, u-turns, talking to people, knocking on doors, and 200 SAR ($50 for my wife and I for the whole day) - and it was worth it once again. I think I have the routine down now. It should be a lot easier from now on to find other beaches in north Jeddah.

My rankings of Jeddah beaches so far:

1. Silver Sands
2. Al Murjan
3. Turkey Gholam/Dream Beach

Here are 12 pictures of Al Murjan Beach Resort that I took while the security guard driving around on the golf cart wasn't looking (there's a big sign that says "No Cameras"). :)

Click here to learn how to get there.

A mini-beach adjacent to the larger beach where everyone was.

Standing on the mini-beach and looking out at the villas.

Looking at the end of the pier.

Looking back at the mini-bay, island, and main beach after walking down the pier.

There were some cool "ruins" at this resort.

A nice place to have lunch.

Fancy tiles.

Downtown Jeddah in the distance.

Africa is somewhere over there...

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Happy World Health Day 2014

Happy World Health Day to you.

This year's slogan is "Small Bite: Big Threat" - a reminder that vector-borne diseases, although seemingly insignificant, are widespread and deadly.

Here are some sobering statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO):

1. 40% of the world's population is at risk from the dengue virus
2. Annually, there are roughly 1.3 million new cases of leishmaniasis
3. Every year, more than 1 billion people are infected and more than 1 million die from vector-borne diseases

Mosquitoes and other small organisms carry diseases that put half of the world's population at risk of infection. Far too often, just one bite is enough to make you ill or cause death.

But protecting yourself is easy:

1. Wear long sleeves and pants
2. Use insect repellent
3. Use a bed net
4. Prevent mosquitoes from breeding by covering or removing standing water

Check out the following YouTube video created by the World Health Organization.

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An Evening on Tahlia Street

Over spring break, my wife and I also spent an evening on Tahlia Street, where we window-shopped, wandered about, and sat down for a fancy dinner.

Tahlia Street is a popular fashion and shopping district in mid-town Jeddah. There are many high-end brands including Gucci, Prada, and Armani. Other western brands include Burberry and Chanel. It is also a popular destination for local soccer fans to celebrate victory.

There's a Tahlia Street in the capital Riyadh too.

Some pictures I took...

All of the big brands.

Some I've never heard of too.

Prettyyyyy.

Some really expensive shoes.

The security is much more affordable.

In case you were wondering how to write "Fendi" in Arabic.

A giant clock.

From the top.

A gazebo.

More affordable security.

More big brands.

Cool looking building.

Al-Ittihad FC store.

Sitting down for dinner.

Yums!

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18 Pictures of Silver Sands Beach in Jeddah

In case you missed my first post on Silver Sands Beach in Jeddah, I showed you a video I made using some pictures and a video I took from my spot on the beach.

Now I'd like to show you some pictures I took while I was there. Here are 18 of them.

Wanna know how to get there? Then click here.

This past weekend, I went to Al Murjan Beach Resort and took some pictures for you. Hopefully I can help my fellow expats living in Jeddah find what they're looking for.

Feel free to contact me using the form at the bottom if you have any questions.

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