Science Library Pad

tracking your carbon

Data helps decisions.  Humans are visual.  There are a couple services that will help you visualise your carbon emissions:

TheCarbonAccount aims to show a complete picture of all your emissions.

The above graph is from my profile at http://www.thecarbonaccount.com/people/rakerman/

Dopplr has added a carbon profile feature in partnership with AMEE to track carbon from your travels (since Dopplr is a travel site).

Both of them make a lot of assumptions.  For example in Dopplr everything is air travel by default, you have to go in and manually edit each trip one-by-one if you want to change the travel mode, and the only other options are train and car.

In TheCarbonAccount I can't tell it that I buy green power from Bullfrog, or that I offset emissions, or that I take the bus to work.

This is an obvious killer app for Web Services.  For one thing, I should be able to send from Dopplr to TheCarbonAccount.  For that matter, my power consumption data from Bullfrog should also automatically feed TheCarbonAccount.  Individuals should be able to build their own end-to-end carbon footprint chain, using SOA.

The heck with FriendFeed, where's my CarbonFeed?

(I'm pretty sure I Twittered this idea a while back, but I can never find anything in my Twitter stream again.)

Previously:
January 18, 2008  carbon labelling

trip intersection service Dopplr out of beta, open for signups

Dopplr is a site where you enter your planned trips, with dates and locations, and then share those trips with (selected) others in the Dopplr social network.  The site will then inform you when you have trips that overlap with your contacts.  It's good e.g. if you tend to circulate around conferences, and would like to know who else is going to be in the same city when you are (or who lives in a city you're going to visit).

They just opened out of beta to the public at LeWeb3, on December 11, 2007:

Enabling coincidence, and spreading quickly

Dopplr lets you share your future travel plans with a group of trusted fellow travellers whom you have chosen. It also reminds you of friends and colleagues who live in the cities you’re planning to visit. For example, Dopplr might tell you that three of your trusted friends and colleagues will be in Amsterdam when you are planning to be there.

In recent months Dopplr has become an essential tool for users around the globe. Many joined the service after invitations from friends and colleagues.

Dopplr launches at LeWeb3 in Paris

I've found it useful, of course the more travel you do and the more people you're willing to share with, the more you will get out of it.

schmappy travels

Schmap has an interesting approach to getting photos for their online travel guides: they have a nice online permissions system where they send you a message along the lines of "we'd like to use your photo with permission" and you go and click yes or no.  It's something that wouldn't have been possible without the current wealth of online content.  They've used three of my photos (with permission):

http://www.schmap.com/newyork/sights_brooklyn/#p=38513&i=38513_1.jpg

http://www.schmap.com/copenhagen/tours_tour3/#p=58898&i=58898.jpg

http://www.schmap.com/toronto/tours_tour1/#p=19510&i=19510_3.jpg

carbon offset for my scifoo flight

flight from: Ottawa, ON [Macdonald-Cartier International Airport], Canada, YOW
flight to: San Francisco, CA [San Francisco International Airport], USA, SFO
return, economy
flight distance: 7865 km
flight passengers: 1
CO2 Emissions: 1,771 t (that's European notation, so 1.771 tonnes)
SFr 71 (equals $62 Canadian)

I use MyClimate.

I should probably offset the long taxi rides to and from the airport, as well as the fairly long bus ride plus I'm fairly sure the bus was idling as it waited for enough people to arrive.  But I'm not so keen on offsetting automotive sins as I have never owned a car and live downtown so that I (almost) never have to drive anywhere.

I was surprised that Google had bottled water.  I don't know whether it's true that it takes "3 liters of water to produce one liter of bottled water" (Pacific Institute) but it certainly can't be good to raise a generation of people who think it's better to drink branded water out of a throwaway plastic bottle than to fill a glass from a tap or bend over a water fountain.

GPS on a plane 2: San Francisco - Toronto - Ottawa

I have been interested in small, inexpensive GPS loggers mainly for geocoding photos.
My current fave is the Globalsat DG-100, despite its terrible software.
(It has the SIRFstar III chipset, which is sensitive enough to do this.  SIRFstar II may not be able to, at least I've never been able to get a lock on a plane using my Sony GPS.)

I have been interested to see if I can capture entire plane flights, including geocoding photos that I take in the air.  This is possible.

Please note however:
1) Ask the flight crew for permission (well, at least once per airline, anyway)
2) The logger I use is self-contained.  If you have a Bluetooth logger, or some other kind with some transmission facility, you may not be allowed to use it.  Only a few airlines permit Bluetooth, and I don't think any of them permit it during takeoff and landing

You have to be next to a window, the GPS needs a good sky view.  I usually hold it in my hand about 10-15 cm below and to an angle to the window during takeoff and landing, the rest of the time it can just sit on your seat tray.  You can see examples of the positioning at the bottom of this post.

So, what do you get?

Google Earth can read GPX files directly, this is the result of loading San Francisco to Toronto.
Just to emphasize, this is real data from my GPS.  There's a little leg there on the SF side which is my taxi ride from Mountain View.

If you want to get fancier, GPS Visualizer.com can take GPX files and do all sorts of cool things with them, including colouring by altitude or by speed, as well as making time-based tracks for Google Earth to play.

People often complain about GPS altitude estimation, but it looks fairly reasonable to me, 11000 metres.  The speed estimates on the other hand were way off, it estimated the plane was going like mach 3 if I read the numbers right.

I imagine the relative speed information is correct though.

Here's a view of my Toronto to Ottawa flight coloured by speed

And here's the same flight with Google Earth tilted, with a track produced using GPS Vis setting "Altitude: Absolute (flight)"

How accurate is it?  Well here's me landing in Toronto (cyan line)

And here's what I think is an amazingly cool comparison of a view in Google Earth compared with a photo whose geocoding tells me it was taken in the same spot

Google Earth, with geoposition of photo taken indicated within the screen cap, full photo below.  The zigzag road makes it pretty obvious they are images of the same location, one (probably) satellite, the other taken by me this morning

Positioning of GPS:

I will upload the GPX and KMZ track info later, so you can load the tracks into Google Earth yourself if you want.

Previously:
June 24, 2007  GPS on a plane

SciFoo and thoughts about conferences and travel

I'm off to California on Friday for SciFoo 2007.

Pierre Lindenbaum has done a hilarious series of cartoons on SciFoo nervousness that I can really identify with - Scifoo 07: anxiety from a homebody.

My experiences in California have been generally good,

© 2001 Richard Akerman

© 2004 Richard Akerman

except the time I went to San Diego in 2003 and it was on fire

USA Today - 2003 California Wildfires

I still can't believe they flew us into the middle of that.  It was like arriving in Mordor.

I like to travel although I have grown increasingly to dislike airports.  Fast trains are the way to go.

This is a miscellany of things I have learned about conferences and travel, perhaps it may be of some use.
It is for me anyway, as I like to plan things out in great detail in advance.

Regardless of whether it's going to be hot outside, bring a sweater or some warm top you can pull on, because conference rooms are often air conditioned to freezingness.

Air Canada will let you change your seat reservations online repeatedly.
If you haven't gotten a seat at time of reservation, or you want to change, you just need your reservation code and you can log in starting 24 hours in advance of the flight.
If you're reserving seats a day before, a new block of seats may open in the morning.
(I know this because I found myself booked into a centre-of-plane seat for a transatlantic flight, and after trying without success to find an open, better seat repeatedly during the day before, I finally got a much better seat when I logged in the next day.)

If you don't have regular Internet access in your hotel etc., you can still check in online from a net-enabled cellphone.

British Airways will only let you pick your seat once online.

You can check out seating charts at SeatGuru but you have to guess a bit with Air Canada since they are flying multiple versions of the same aircraft on long-haul flights.  There is also a mobile version of SeatGuru.

Remember to plan for multiple stages of delays (which is why I now dislike airports):
- if you haven't printed out your boarding pass in advance, you may have to wait in line at the kiosks
- also the kiosks may not open before a certain time (the BA kiosks at London Heathrow didn't open until after 04:30)
- if you're checking bags, you may have to wait in line to drop them off (even if you've already checked in online)
- you may have to wait in line for customs
- you will definitely have to wait in line for security
- you may have to wait in line and have take some time to take a bus or shuttle from one terminal to another
- depending on your transit airport / airline you may have to get your checked bags and re-check them in, and/or you may have to check in again at some airline desk
- you may have to go through security AGAIN when you transit, this can be particularly long in Heathrow

There's not a lot you can do about the above, other than:
- print your boarding pass at home / in advance
- only have carryon luggage
but a) be aware that some airports, in particular London Heathrow will only allow you to transit with a single, fairly small carryon b) even if you're allowed, please don't try to get on the plane with some giant overstuffed carryons, it just inconveniences all the other passengers
- wear shoes that easily slip on and off, as all US security checks and most or all UK ones will require you to take off your shoes
- don't wear your belt through the metal detector since it will just set it off - if you need a belt, just slip it off and stuff it in your bag before security - err, unless you need it to hold up your pants
- don't try to carryon liquids and the various other items from the large list of prohibited items
(you can still get water after the security checkpoint - and yes, this means you can have the scenario of having to discard water before security, buying it after security, and then discarding it AGAIN at transit security)

UPDATE 2007-08-02: Another lesson I learned from a friend at a conference - live in the time zone you're in, don't keep checking and thinking, it's such-and-such time at home now.  I switch my watch to the new zone on the plane, and keep to it - this can be hard because for logistics purposes sometimes the plane is operating on different hours - for example on the overnight flight to London they will want to serve you a meal at something like 2 AM London time.  I just wear my sleep mask and ignore them.

Incidentally, Samsonite makes a nice dark sleep mask.  They look kind of silly but it's a good way to try to adjust your internal clock.  ENDUPDATE

Print out info on your conference and in particular on your hotel.
Don't expect cab drivers to have any idea where anything is.  Have a map with detailed directions on how to get to the hotel from the airport.  In London with The Knowledge at least they know where streets are, but even then there are far far more hotels than a cabbie has ever heard of.  In other cities it's much worse.  Also communication with cab drivers can sometimes be challenging, so it's nice to have a written address and map you can show them.  Airports are often far from the city centre and often don't take cards, so bring lots of cash, like at least US$75 just for the cab ride (in some cities such as London, Stockholm and Paris you can take a train downtown instead).

Make sure you get a real cab at a taxi stand at the airport, and not some random guy who will "offer you a deal" (often right outside the airport exit, whereas the taxistand may be some distance to your left or right).  They're usually not dangerous, they just rip you off by charging a lot more than a real taxi.

Have a detailed map of the city.  Old cities in particular can play amusing tricks on you that won't show up on a Google Earth high-level overview printout, like changing street names for the same street every few blocks.  For example, in Nancy France you might think you can just take Rue Stanislas to get to Place Stanislas, but at the train station this street is called Rue Raymond Poincaré.

You can get some great laminated city maps for various major cities, I find these invaluable.  Lonely Planet makes ones that I like a lot.  They have one for San Francisco.

http://shop.lonelyplanet.com/Primary/Product/Destination_Guides/City_Maps.jsp

Cheap ziplock bags can be a great way to create extra storage and organisation space particularly if you pack very small and light.  Can be used for everything from keeping different currencies separate to protecting you from the chance of leaky toothpaste.

Check your cellphone plan and make sure you don't get nailed with crazy roaming voice and data rates.  If your phone isn't unlocked, you can buy or rent one for travel fairly inexpensively in many cases.  For example RailEurope will sell you a phone for US$39.

http://www.raileurope.ekit.com/ekit/MobileHome

Even if you don't have a fancy elite travel status, you can pre-book lounges in some airports.  This can be a welcome respite from the crowds and noise (you are planning at least 2-4 hours between connecting flights, right?).  Plus which it's worth it to me just to have a semi-private bathroom.  For Heathrow I use

http://www.simplylounges.co.uk/

Anyway, hope these points are useful.  I have a much more detailed checklist that I use, if there's any interest I suppose I could share it (it's in Google Docs).

You can buy carbon offsets for your travel from various vendors, I use MyClimate

https://myclimate.myclimate.org/calculate_flight?locale=e3-CH

Yes, I know there are lots of issues with offsets, you can see my Carbon Offset category for more discussion of this topic.

There's also various other info and reports in my Travel and Conference categories.

news video on photo geocoding

CBS 5 KPIX San Francisco has a video report on photo geocoding (there's a brief ad at the beginning).

via EveryTrail Blog

how much is that carbon in the window?

Honestly, what else can you get three tonnes of for only a hundred bucks?

(Offsets for my recent travel, from MyClimate.)

Note: MyClimate can be slow to load from Canada, but it is there.

all Linnaeus, all the time

This year somehow has had threads of Linnaeus, Lamarck and the Jardin des Plantes (botanical garden) running through it.

When I was visiting the Jardin in 2004, the rather grand building at the end of the promenade was of course unmissable

but I have to say I didn't really think about what it might be.

I made a point of returning to the garden in April of 2007 but I still only used the building as a photo backdrop

It wasn't until I read Paris to the Moon in May, post-visit, that I realized there were exhibits in the grand buildings, and it wasn't until later that month when I read Everything is Miscellaneous that I discovered that Lamarck had been a professor at the institution that includes the grand garden buildings, the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle.

A week after that, at the very end of May, I pointed to Linnaeus and his passion for order, in National Geographic.

Then in June I found myself at the IATUL conference in Sweden, with a day-trip to Uppsala, and of course, having not really paid attention to the details of the excursion and the location beforehand, it wasn't until I got there that I realized there would be a great deal about Linnaeus, since he was Chair of Botany at Uppsala University (Uppsala universitet), plus which it's the 300th anniversary of his birth.  He's buried in Uppsala Cathedral (Uppsala domkyrka) - the tomb, inset in the floor, is surrounded by small plants and flowers.  There was also an exhibit at Carolina Rediviva, the main building of the Uppsala University library.

Although there weren't many display cases, the exhibit was most ably described by our guide, who if I understood correctly also happens to be the head of the library.  I learned that as part of his system of the world, Linn had also had a classsification for minerals, but it didn't catch on.

Then we went to Linnaeus' Hammarby, which was his summer cottage.  Unless you are particularly fascinated by rooms in a cottage, there's not that much to see there, although the grounds are pleasant.

You can read more about the Swedish celebrations of his life and work at

http://www.linnaeus2007.se/

And as the conclusion of my Swedish Linnaeus thread, I received the book Carl Linnaeus as a speaker gift.

Back in Paris for a day, I walked to the Jardin des Plantes, determined to finally explore the natural history museum.  To my surprise, I found myself on Linnaeus Street

The Grande Galerie de l'Évolution really is quite grand

You can see the Minerology Museum just to the left of it.

Inside the Gallery is a large open space, dimly lit, with animal reconstructions as its main focus.

The centre of the Gallery is given over to a grand procession of African animals.

There are also book displays (I don't know if they are the original books) of the writings of Lamarck (first, naturally) and then Darwin.

It's hard to convey a good sense of the interior, but I can at least say that on a warm day where tourists were presumably clambering over themselves at the main Parisian attractions, the gallery was cool and (perhaps sadly) quiet.

GPS on a plane

This is what my day was like

This is real data from my GPS logger, it's not just a path that I've drawn.

Here's the KMZ

Download FlyingParisOttawa-no-alt.kmz

I haven't got the altitude data out, but I'll work on it.  Unfortunately, the logger was not set to record altitude (it's a configuration option).

More info to come in this posting in a few days, once I'm say, not at the end of 16 hours of travel or whatever.

UPDATE 2007-06-25: I used the DG-100 GPS logger (SIRFstar III).  I turned it on when boarding the planes, I had window seats.  I just had it on my leg (which was not so clever, as it fell off onto the floor twice).  In the seat pocket would probably also work.  That's it, it acquired signal normally and maintained it without any problems.  The above track has some gap-fill artificial data over Newfoundland as the battery ran low and I had to recharge the DG-100 from my laptop for an hour or so.  While recharging the Air Canada staff asked what it was and when I told them it was a GPS, they checked and verified that it was ok.

In case it's not clear, it's not live data captured directly within Google Earth.  That should in theory be possible, although without a net connection you would need to pre-visit places to get them in Google Earth cache I think.  The above track was stored on the logger and then converted for Google Earth using GPS Visualizer.

The DG-100 is not a Bluetooth logger; it's self-contained (for Bluetooth, check the airline policies, and you almost certainly can't turn it on until the seatbelt light is off).  I'm pretty sure SAS permits Bluetooth; I don't know about other airlines.

There are two separate flights in the track: first BA from Paris to London, and then changed planes to AirCan from London to Ottawa.

wireless on a cruise (Tallink)

The Stockholm-Tallinn cruise line Tallink has free wireless Internet, I don't know if it's on all the ships but it is on the Romantika.  Not available in the cabins AFAIK, but works fine in the 6th and 7th floor lounge areas next to the outer deck.  Must be satellite, as it works while the ship is sailing.  A bit slow but certainly usable (I'm using it right now).

WiFi and the Elite Hotel Stockholm Plaza

The good news is that the hotel has free wireless (albeit you do have to go down to the front desk and request a new access code every 6 hours).  The bad news is that on the second floor, with my PowerBook G4, it is very flaky.  Sometimes no connection, sometimes no DHCP, sometimes works great all evening.

I am currently camped out in a third floor hallway as it is in the "no DHCP" mode.

Front desk unfortunately doesn't seem to be able to do anything, like reboot the nodes - they just tell me to use the Windows computer that's wired up in the tiny business closet.

The wireless is from The Cloud Networks.

travel - Heathrow etc.

Just in a probably hopeless attempt to avoid me having to stand in a 3.5 hour line waiting to go through connecting flight security at Heathrow, please remember the following baggage restrictions for London Heathrow airport:

Hand baggage restrictions
Passengers are allowed to carry ONE item of hand baggage, no larger than:

• 56 centimetres tall (approximately 22 inches)
• 45 centimetres wide (approximately 17.7 inches)
• 25 centimetres deep (approximately 10 inches)

... Other bags, such as handbags, may be carried WITHIN the single item of cabin baggage, not in addition.

There are also the liquid restrictions as well, but other than buying some water once you're past security, I'm not clear why you'd want to haul a bunch of liquids/gels in your carryon anyway.

I may add other info here if I find anything useful.

JetBlue airline seatback Google Maps and photo contest

JetBlue Airways Corporation (Nasdaq:JBLU) today announces a partnership with Google Maps to provide customers with a real-time flight tracking channel on its signature seatback televisions to map the aircraft's route. To celebrate, the low-fare, high-frills airline is launching a "JetBlue Point of View" photo contest(a), inviting customers to share their own summer travel routes on a Google Maps mash-up on www.jetblue.com/google

...

The moving map feature will be located on channel 13 of JetBlue's in-seat satellite television system, provided by LiveTV. In addition to in-flight tracking, customers can also refer their friends, family and loved ones to www.jetblue.com, where their flights can be tracked live using Google's technology online, including the flight's estimated departure and arrival times.

investor.jetblue.com - JetBlue Airways Announces Partnership With Google Maps to Provide Real-Time Flight Tracking Feature

how to enter:

       1. Take photos from the window of any JetBlue flight (when advised by your Inflight Crew that it’s okay to use electronic devices) between June 4 and September 3 [2007]. Please amateur photographers only

(residents of the continental US only)

I always feel a bit awkward taking photos through my airplane window, like I'm breaking some rule - this is the first time I've heard of an airline specifically requesting it.  I'd really like to capture some GPS tracks on a plane as well, but I always imagine trying to explain to the airplane staff something like "I'm holding this small plastic box with flashing LEDs up to the fragile window of the plane to communicate with satellites in order to determine our exact position" and I can never come up with a scenario in which it turns out well.

via gadling
via Digg

Air Canada carbon offset

I am amazed at how quickly offsets have taken off.

Front page of the Globe today was Passengers face the cash, credit or carbon tax question

Air Canada passengers can now ease their guilt over global warming by buying carbon offsets, meaning a clear conscience for less than $20 on a return fare on popular routes.

On busy transatlantic routes such as Toronto-London, it will cost $19.20 to offset a passenger's share of a plane's carbon emissions. Domestically, a Vancouver-Montreal return flight will mean an extra $12.80 tacked on the ticket price.

Zerofootprint is their offset provider.

http://www.aircanada.com/en/travelinfo/traveller/zfp.html

Previously:
March 20, 2007  Globe on Canadian offset services

peer review and research assessment - 2007 ICSTI Public Conference

The 2007 ICSTI Public Conference "Assessing the quality and impact of research: practices and initiatives in scholarly information" will be

June 21-22, 2007
Nancy, France

I am pleased to announce that I will be speaking about peer review and certification.
(Following Elsevier, the largest scientific publisher in the world, so, you know, no pressure.)

You can check out the preliminary programme; more info is available on the ICSTI site.

I will blog this event under category/tag ICSTI2007.

Following the event, there is the opportunity to tour INIST on the afternoon of the 22nd.

(Note that the ICSTI General Assembly, which is closed to the public, continues for two days after the public conference.)

Getting There

There is a new TGV line running direct Paris-Nancy that is supposed to open June 10, 2007; I can see the train schedules at voyages-sncf.com, but it won't let me book them.  The new line is TGV Est Européen, and the TGV Est site says tickets will be bookable starting April 10, 2007.  Also, if I'm reading correctly, there are discounted prices from June 10, 2007 to August 26, 2007.  If the TGV is running, it will only be 1.5 hours for the Paris-Nancy run, e.g.

Otherwise if you don't take a direct, it is showing times of about 3 hours in June.  Currently, without the new line, it is showing direct times of about three hours, and non-direct times of about 4 hours.  I think you can reserve and pick up your tickets in France.  Otherwise for Canada and USA, the site is Rail Europe, but it doesn't show the new TGV schedules for June.  For Canada see specifically

http://www.raileurope.ca/canada/

For booking the new TGV East from Canada there is a new page, but just to make things a hassle, it doesn't list Nancy as an option in the pull-down menus

http://www.raileurope.ca/canada/rail/tgvest/

UPDATE 2007-05-10: The TGV Est leaves from Gare de l'Est (PARIS EST).  To get there from Charles de Gaulle (CDG) Roissy airport, you can take the "Roissyrail" RER B train from the airport to Gare du Nord, and then walk to Gare de l'Est (it is just a few hundred metres away).  You can either go outside at Gare du Nord, or there is supposed to be a connecting hallway ready by the time the TGV Est starts running.

The RER B is easy to get from within the airport, you can buy tickets at automated kiosks or line up to buy them from the SNCF ticket counters, you can of course also order them in advance online.  It should only take about half an hour from CDG to Gare du Nord (although you might want to figure an hour, just to be safe).  There are two trains, a local and an express, they leave from opposite sides of the same platform.  Look at the signs beside each track - dots will indicate the stops the train makes.

ENDUPDATE

UPDATE 2007-06-17: You can check the status of the train lines, as well as individual trips, via

http://www.infolignes.com/

specifically you can check SNCF - Infolignes - Trafic Est

ENDUPDATE

UPDATE 2007-04-17: I have made a Google Earth KMZ of the suggested hotels and the INIST venue (which is about 5km from Nancy centre).

Download ICSTI2007.kmz

You can also view these placemarks in Google Maps.

By copying the placemarks using "Save to My Maps", I have also created a Google My Maps version.

The INIST site has information both on how to get to Nancy and how to get to INIST itself.

The tram1 runs directly from downtown to INIST.  The INIST site says to take it in direction Vandoeuvre CHU Brabois and get off at the Faisanderie stop.

See reseau-stan.com for more information on Nancy area transit.

Disclaimer: I'm approximating the location of INIST based on what I could find on their website; it's possible the location is off slightly as I've never been there.

ENDUPDATE

Previously:
January 22, 2007  ICSTI event on academic user behaviour
April 28, 2006  conference proceedings: ICSTI eScience, Bielefeld + Taiga + LtF on academic library future

Note:
ICSTI = International Council for Scientific and Technical Information
CISTI = Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information
INIST = L’Institut de l’Information Scientifique et Technique

Scandinavian SAS airlines optional carbon offset

Scandinavian airline group SAS AB introduced a voluntary greenhouse charge today for passengers who want to offset the carbon dioxide emissions generated by their flights.

The plan, which follows a similar initiative by British Airways in 2005, lets SAS passengers give money to environmental projects that have helped reduce the release of greenhouse gases, the company said.

The money will be funnelled through The CarbonNeutral Co., which specializes in helping companies offset carbon dioxide emissions.

Toronto Star - AP - Airline to let flyers pay carbon tax - March 14, 2007

Also see CarbonNeutral - News Features - SAS Group reaffirms airlines committment to green aviation

Tufts University consumer travel carbon offset guide

Tufts Climate Initiative (TCI) - Voluntary Carbon Offsets - Consumer Handout "Flying Green"

They liked myclimate best.

Suzuki using myclimate to offset carbon from cross-Canada tour

The Globe reports that Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki is offsetting the carbon pollution from his current cross-Canada tour using Swiss provider myclimate

https://www.myclimate.org/EN_ticket/ticket_insert1.php

Just out of curiousity, I compared a YOW-YHZ roundtrip (how geeky am I to remember airport codes, sigh)

myclimate (ticket star - "the full impact of your flight on the climate is compensated"):

Ottawa (CA)   -   Halifax (CA)   -  Ottawa (CA)
this flight covers a distance of 1'908 km.

One myclimate ticket costs 22.00 Swiss Francs and compensates for the emission of
567 kilograms of CO2

Total price     CHF 25.00
[Google says 22 Swiss Francs = Can$20.60]

Green My Flight:

OTTAWA - YOW to HALIFAX - YHZ: 955.7 km

Total Distance: 1911.4 km
Total Emissions: 259.8 kg
Program Cost: $7.00

So I'm guessing that basically myclimate considers full impact to be double raw CO₂

any documentation needed crossing Canada to USA to present?

Ever since I read that Darren Barefoot was turned back at the border on his way to present

Ultimately, the [US] customs agents concluded that because Microsoft was covering my flight and accommodation, I was being compensated for consulting activities. In order to enter the country, I’d need a work permit. I didn’t have one, and certainly wasn’t going to produce one in the next four hours, so I was stuck in ... Canada.

I have been a bit paranoid.  Has anyone else experienced this issue when travelling from Canada to present in the US?  Do you ask for a letter to the effect of "Mr./Ms. Presenter Person has not been compensated for giving his/her speech?  Does anyone know what the exact regulations are (it would be nice to print out a copy and bring them with me).

PS If I am currently sitting in a US customs interview room and you are a border agent googling my name, please be aware that I'm just trying to follow the letter and intent of the law.

Nature on carbon offsets

Nature has an editorial and timely special report investigating carbon offsets.

If you've been following my blog, you may have seen that I have started purchasing carbon offsets for my flights, I had some interesting discussion with friends about whether it was worth doing, or whether one should avoid flying if at all possible.

The conclusion in Nature (as I read it) is that it is worthwhile, although there is a danger that some current offset schemes are being overhyped.

Offset schemes are a small but potentially useful addition to the carbon balance sheet.

Climate change, as we are now experiencing it, is predominantly the result of the lifestyles to which people living in the industrialized world have grown accustomed. One increasingly popular response to it is carbon offsetting, a practice that allows people to compensate for the impact of their activities by supporting climate-friendly projects in distant corners of the world. It is a promising approach — even if some of its early manifestations are being dangerously oversold.

Nature editorial - Kyoto for commuters
Nature 444, 971 (21 December 2006) | doi:10.1038/444971a; Published online 21 December 2006

The 2006 World Cup in Germany ... has passed without a trace: it has supposedly left no mark on the planet's atmosphere.

The international football association FIFA says it has met its 'Green Goal' to wipe out the World Cup's carbon footprint. It's estimated that the millions of fans who travelled to Germany to watch the matches generated around 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide. So local organizers collected euro dollar1.2 million (US$1.6 million) from sponsors and used it to buy credits worth that amount on the voluntary emission market. The money will be invested in renewable-energy projects in developing countries.

Such voluntary carbon offsetting is becoming ever more fashionable: the 2012 Olympic Games in London will be labelled carbon neutral, and bands from Pink Floyd to Pearl Jam claim to rock carbon-free. British diplomats and government members jet around the world in a supposedly climate-friendly manner, as do many bankers and insurance brokers.

...

The market's main weakness is a lack of standards and verification procedures. ...
The most widely recognized certification so far, called the Gold Standard, is owned and supported by 42 non-governmental environmental organizations.

...

Most experts agree that voluntary carbon offsetting could be part of a global strategy against climate change. But, they warn, most voluntary offsetting companies use small projects in developing countries, which together could account for only 3–5% of carbon emitted.

Worse, overselling offsetting might persuade consumers that no other action is needed.

Nature Special Report - Climate credits
Nature 444, 976-977 (21 December 2006) | doi:10.1038/444976a; Published online 21 December 2006

Previously:
December 20, 2006  more on flying and carbon offsets

more on flying and carbon offsets

CBC Radio One's The Current has a report Christmas Commercialism and Ethical Travel (MP3) as part of The Best of The Current Podcast.  The information starts at 16:20 in.  They interview George Monbiot, author of Heat: How to Stop the Planet Burning.  He basically says you should fly very rarely if at all.  He doesn't like carbon offsets.

Considering that travel is the main thing I look forward to each year, I will continue to fly anyway.

I do think if you're flying purely for a quick beach vacation, or if you're flying for a single business meeting, you might want to re-consider.  But you also need to think about the big picture of your carbon emissions.  Ultimately it's whatever is possible for the whole of your life, not just each aspect considered narrowly.

So after looking at various sites in my previous posting airlines and everything with built-in carbon offset,
I have decided to use Green My Flight to purchase my carbon indulgences.

Itinerary:
OTTAWA - YOW to HALIFAX - YHZ: 955.7 km
   
Total Distance: 1911.4 km
Total Emissions: 259.8 kg
Program Cost: $7.00

airlines and everything with built-in carbon offset

Will SOA save the world?  We're working on it.
Jon Udell has a fascinating InfoWorld article "The carbon-adjusted supply chain: SOA-enabled optimization can help reduce businesses' impact on the global environment" and accompanying blog posting.

Does Amazon know enough about its supply chain, ... to assign a value to the atmospheric carbon attributable to the manufacturing and shipping of its products? Bezos thought that the answer was no, but he was clearly intrigued by the question. So am I.

...

Economists have a wonderful euphemism for environmental impacts. They call them “externalities,” and we can blithely ignore them until Rhode Island-size chunks of Antarctic sea ice start to vanish. Then we start to realize that, in a closed ecosystem, there are no externalities.

In order for Amazon to be able to measure and report its externalities, of course, Amazon’s suppliers would themselves have to be able to measure and report theirs. That would be a major challenge, to be sure. But it’s exactly the kind of challenge that SOA-enabled supply chain optimization prepares us to tackle.

To my surprise, there are already a number of initiatives to help people offset their carbon from air travel, although I don't know how big the idea is yet in those paragons of carbon production, the US, Canada and Australia.

Anyway, my Big Idea is quite simple and appears to be already underway at various sites: every airline should include, as one of its option fees, a pre-calculated carbon offset cost with a trusted offset vendor.  Air Canada, are you listening?

Ideally, offset providers should have calculation Web Services and payment Web Services that other sites could use.

[UK] DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) - Carbon Offset Scheme Launched - September 12, 2005

British Airways has launched a new scheme, backed by the government, where its customers can volunteer to help to offset the carbon dioxide emissions from their flight by making a contribution to an environmental trust.

The money raised will be used by an organisation called Climate Care to invest in sustainable energy projects that tackle global warming by reducing carbon dioxide levels.

Air travellers can choose to make a donation from today (September 12) via a link from the airline's website, ba.com, for the cost of the emissions created by their journey. For example, the donation on a return flight from London Heathrow to Madrid will cost £5 and a return flight from London Heathrow to Johannesburg will cost £13.30.

You can visit http://www.britishairways.com/travel/climateimpact/public/en_gb for more info.

Silverjet, also in the UK, is building carbon neutrality into their price.

Silverjet, the first British airline to offer a low fare, exclusively business class service across the Atlantic, today announces that it will be the world’s first airline to become carbon neutral on all its flights.

Included within its ticket prices will be a mandatory carbon offset contribution, giving passengers the opportunity to reinvest the “carbon points” thus earned back into a number of climate friendly projects around the world. This still enables Silverjet to offer low fare long haul, exclusively business class, transatlantic flights from as little as £999, return.

The scheme is being set up in partnership with the leading climate change business, The CarbonNeutral Company, and it has been developed in accordance with the CarbonNeutral protocol, which is the leading standard and quality mark for action on climate change.

Silverjet PR - Silverjet is the world's first airline to go carbon neutral - November 26, 2006

In Canada, there is UNIGLOBE Travel's Green Flight Program

UNIGLOBE Travel's Green Flight Program is one of the ways you can achieve your CO2 reduction goals.

UNIGLOBE Travel's Green Flight program is getting much press for its ability to provide companies in Canada with the mechanism that has, for a long time been missing to meet carbon emission offset goals. One way to achieve these goals is to purchase carbon offset credits from UNIGLOBE Travel that are calculated on the number of miles flown in an aircraft generated by companies business, conference or employee incentive travel.

The monies collected from the credits are then invested into environmental programs supported by Environment Canada.

UNIGLOBE's offset provider is Baseline Emissions Management Inc., and the specific site provided by Baseline is

http://www.greenmyflight.com/

Also, via The Great Canadian Carbon Offset 2006, I find a rather roundabout offset arrangement - buy a WestJet ticket via offsetters.ca and offsetters will use their affiliate income to offset some of the carbon. (GCCO2006 link via Treehugger.)

lastminute.com UK also offers this option

Customers using lastminute.com are to be given the option to offset carbon dioxide emissions from flights.

The online retailer claims to have become the first major travel company to make CO2 offsetting an integral part of buying a flight in a Government-backed initiative.

Payments will be invested in sustainable energy projects to reduce the damage done to the environment in a partnership with Climate Care, an organisation which tackles global warming.

TravelMole - Lastminute.com to offer emissions offset option - November 24, 2006

and indeed the option appears prominently at the top of their UK site, with accompanying web page

and not at all on their US site

cheapflights.co.uk has a variety of information - Air passengers can offset CO2 at Treeflights

Passengers who want to offset the carbon dioxide emitted from their flights have the option of using a new carbon-offsetting website where they can pay to plant a tree.

Treeflights, whose motto is "You fly – we plant", will plant one tree in a Welsh forest for each flight taken, at a cost of £10 (or $19/€15).

as well they list other options on their Carbon Emissions page

Al Gore uses Native Energy to offset all of his travel, but unfortunately it's a bit US-centric (miles? map of the USA?)

http://www.nativeenergy.com/travel/

There are lots of competing carbon offset providers, unfortunately I have neither the skills nor the time to evaluate them all.  I may expand this posting as I learn more.

Wikipedia - Carbon offset is probably another good starting point, and they'd take away my Canadian environment blazer badge if I didn't point to David Suzuki.org - Go Carbon Neutral.

ECDL 2006 - Alicante - restaurant

This place was good

Assia in Wok

It's asian fusion.
They're not ready until about 9:30 PM (we went spot on 9 but they weren't quite prepared yet).

It's at Castaños 3 in downtown Alicante.

To be quite honest it's the first place we've found so far with good, reasonably-priced food.

UPDATE 2006-09-26: Another place that was ok was Restaurante Shika II, Calle San Fernando 14 in downtown.  Indian food.  At lunch we got full meal including starter, main, water (or choice of drink) and tea/coffee for E9.90

at ECDL 2006

I will be at the 10th annual European Conference [on] Digital Libraries (ECDL).

If you want to contact/stalk me, see About Me or contacting me at conferences.

In case you're wondering what you're allowed to take on board the plane...

• Canada - Canadian Air Transport Security Authority - Notice to Passengers
• London - Heathrow - giant BAA Heathrow URL for info on Hand Baggage Restrictions
• Spain - Hand luggage

Note that the UK regulations only allow quite a small bag, 45cm x 35cm x 16cm.
On the plus side, electronics are allowed again.

Also, if you're transiting the UK, you can pre-book airport lounge time - could be handy during a long layover.

http://www.simplylounges.co.uk/

http://www.holidayextras.co.uk/airport-lounges/airport-lounges.html

Some Alicante links...

Wikipedia - Alicante Airport
Official site - aena.es - Alicante Airport

You can see anything I blog about this conference in my ECDL2006 category.

Previously:
July 06, 2006  I made Google Earth/Maps placemarks of ECDL 2006 locations - ECDL2006 - Google Earth