The facts are in. Our climate changed and is changing. Thankfully, many of you have changed your behavior. You have chosen to eat less meat, to lower your flying, to be more conscious of your consumption. That is great and fundamental to us beating climate change.

In this post though, I will talk about a topic that has become taboo in within the climate change community: carbon capture. Carbon capture is a general term that encapsulates a plurality of technologies that can and does lower the amount of carbon released to our atmosphere. Carbon capture technologies are the only technologies we have at our disposal to remove the carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Carbon capture technologies are tools fight climate change but unfortunately, they have become taboo.

Carbon capture is a taboo within the communities that are the most active in the fight for climate change. It makes sense. Changing our behavior is a big way of lowering our carbon footprint. We have all changed our behavior to lower our carbon footprint. Many of us have decreased the amount of meat we eat. Many of us use public transport more, bike to work, and try to fly as little as possible. We put solar panels, solar heaters. We pay for renewable energy. We shower for shorter times, have colder rooms in the winter, and warmer ones in the summer. We do a lot to fight climate change. Alas, independent of how much we reduce; our footprint is and always will be positive.

Carbon capture is a solution to climate change. Not a solution based on behavioral change, but a real solution. Nonetheless, carbon capture is problematic for many as it can and will give a free pass to many people to increase their carbon footprint. It can be that many of us will choose to increase our meat consumption and compensate for the difference. It could be that we will fly more and compensate. It could that we shower longer and compensate. It could be that we choose to change back our behavior and live as if climate change was not happening, just because we compensate. That is our choice if you compensate.

With carbon capture, we can choose how to behave. This choice is the reason why carbon capture is taboo within many climate change communities. It sounds too easy. Just pay and do what you want. In contrast, to changing your behavior and all the complexities it entails relapses, troubles, lack of freedom. With carbon capture, you can compensate and choose how to behave. How live your life is your choice, you did your part.

To be clear, I am not advocating for you to compensate and increase your carbon footprint. I am pointing out that if you compensate, you can choose how to behave while still having a net-zero carbon footprint. You did your part in fighting climate change. You can decide, and I hope you do to do more, but it is your choice if you compensate.

Independent of whether carbon capture is a taboo or not. Carbon capture is a solution to climate change. Climate change is a problem. The climate has changed and is changing. We need to lower our carbon footprint significantly. If you can do it by changing your behavior and you live in a country with a big enough forest area then you might not need to compensate your carbon footprint. If not, with carbon capture you can have a net zero carbon footprint for an amount many of us can spare.

I know this sounds crazy. We have seen the United Nations reports. They say that if we do not lower our carbon production, we will put several countries, and hundreds of cities underwater. We will extinguish millions of species. We will make our worse into a nightmare. And now, I tell you that carbon capture is the solution? How can you trust this? You cannot. Not right now. Give some time, read the next posts and if you do not trust what I write you can comment and I will reply. From my side, I feel confident that carbon capture is a solution to climate change. I know I cannot have you share my view in one post. It might even be that I am wrong. But hopefully soon we can have a similar opinion, maybe not exactly mine but one we can share and most importantly one that leads us to a net-zero global carbon footprint in the future.

Thank you for reading and look forward to discussing with you.