I have officially been added to the David Suzuki Foundations Play it Cool campaign.

I am completely responsible for the large amount of CO2 being emitted in to the atmosphere because of my travel schedule. Buying carbon offsets is a way to neutralize this CO2 by preventing the same amount from being emitted elsewhere. Reducing is always the first priority, but after that offsetting has emerged as an invaluable step we all can take for a healthier planet.

Last year I offset over 30 tonns of CO2, and for the 2008 season I have pre offset 25 tonns. This essentially makes my travel emissions neutral.

I wrote a blog post recently exploring the responsibility of traveling for work, called “is the footprint of my career justified”. 

I think one of the emerging ethical questions of our time might be as to whether the carbon footprint of our jobs is justified. For example, travel is a huge part of my career as a professional mountain biker; and air travel is particularly harmful to the environment. Is the amount of pollution I emmit through my job worth all the positives that may come from it? Am I making enough of a difference to influence humanity toward a more integral and harmonious lifestyle? Or is my jaded western value system still tricking me, even after all the research and reading I have done, in to believing my role is important enough to travel the world?

I of course have had to justify this to myself in order to keep proceeding with my lifestyle. With this thought in the back of my mind though, I have seriously considered every trip I have been invited on, and the trips that I do agree to, I have been making sure my contribution while on the road is as complete as possible.

Education about the environment is important, this is why I linked up with The David Suzuki Fountain. When I am speaking at a school, or performing at a public event, I reference this foundation, and give out brochures about global warming. After all trips, I also ‘offset’ my carbon emissions; this has to be one of the best ways to justify polluting (although always as a last resort, reducing is the most important), as there is really no such thing as going on a trip that is “carbon neutral”. Anyway, this is enough of a rant for now, it’s nice to get these ideas out of your head and on to paper (well computer), somehow, doing this just makes the thoughts just that much more real.

Happy day everyone,

Ryan