The Politics and Practice of Carbon Offsetting: Silencing Dissent

This article offers an examination of the politics and practice of carbon offsetting. It is argued that inherent to the carbon offset are a set of contradictions that function to normalize consumption as solution, capitalism as saviour. In order to understand how such contradictions are reconciled, this article suggests that offsetting must be understood as a psycho-social device through which the individual’s fears and discontents in the face of existential crises such as global warming are ultimately pacified. Additionally, it is argued that carbon offsetting functions to re-stabilize the narrative of capitalism as progress, satisfying the broader needs of a system that risks collapse should the masses reject its necessary illusion. By drawing on the example of Al Gore as carbon warrior, the perils inherent to relying on the false God that has become the carbon offset to remedy the global warming crisis are illuminated.