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This 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 Jakobshavns 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.

Photo: Nathan Gallagher.

Reading this you might think I am an evil horrible woman. I would like to reassure you, I am not! I haven’t done anything bad. because 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 am seeking 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.

The cost of Carbon is still too low to drive change.

Change must come from within.

Francesca Galeazzi - Justifying bad behaviour. Photo: Nathan Gallagher

Francesca Galeazzi - Justifying bad behaviour. Photo: Nathan Gallagher