Francesca Galeazzi

2 October 2008

One morning I walked across the fresh snow with a gas cylinder in my arms, containing 6kg of CO2. I took it across the unspoiled snow field of the Jakobshavn fiord until I found what, to my eyes, was a wonderful place.
From a little hill I could see massive icebergs impassably floating by, some of them breaking up from time to time with a loud bang. The sea below was deep grey, which made the icebergs stand up in all their beauty and fragility.
The sky was a merge of pale grey and cerulean with a yellow glow just behind the skyline. Lichen and small berry plants could be felt under the powdery snow as I walked by.

I though: this is perfect!

I walked to the top of the small hill, I put the cylinder down, got on my knees and opened the valve. The CO2 came out violently, freezing the air around the nozzle and producing an unpleasant whistle. When I lowered the cylinder towards the ground, the snow blow off all around me under the pressure of the air jet, almost to signify the melting of the Arctic ice shelf because of the Carbon emissions generated somewhere else.

Reading this you might think I carried out an evil horrible action. I would like to reassure you, I didn’t! I have done something great… I have offset the carbon emissions generated by the CO2 cylinder, through an online Gold Standard Carbon Offsetting scheme! Cool no?
This is great stuff… one can go about consciously polluting the world, wasting energy, producing tonnes of waste and abusing natural resources without feeling guilty at all!! One can simply pay somebody to compensate for his/her ‘bad’ actions somewhere else, and become Carbon Neutral!

Don’t you think this is great?

Do you?

Personally I think it is appalling.

A lot has to be done before we can revert to Carbon offsetting as an effective mechanism to reduce global Carbon emissions.
Fundamental changes in societal behaviour are necessary to reduce our environmental impact, looking at the way we live, travel, eat, consume, go on holiday and warm our homes. Only after we have significantly reduced our environmental impact to the minimum possible, only then Carbon offsetting can start to be used efficiently.
With my performance I sought to throw a serious comment on the contemporary practice of Carbon Offsetting as a mean of green washing conscience and excusing bad behaviour. I am also seeking to provoke debate on why society is so resistant to change and how a collective behavioural shift could be achieved.

Human beings get upset for what can be tangibly seen and felt, not necessarily for what is known and understood.
Some of my fellow voyagers were upset about my piece because they could visualise that black ‘nasty’ cylinder full of CO2 in a way that they couldn’t, if I told them that every time they drive their car for 20 miles they emit the same amount of carbon dioxide.

So I wonder if the societal shift that I was advocating with my performance could be achieved if we would find a more direct way to visualise the Carbon impact of the resources we use.

In any case, the cost of Carbon is still too low to drive change.
I believe that change must come from within.

"Justifying Bad Behaviour for Eco Art Actions"