Extra cash by selling carbon credits?

Has anyone thought about using their food forests as a way to sell carbon credits to companies?

I realize that this idea could raise the hair of a bunch of people saying that throwing cash at a problem that requires action is not the answer, and I agree, but my thought is; these companies are going to do their thing anyway until they're not allowed or until it costs them more than cleaning up their habits, so why not charge them for carbon credits and then you have more cash in your pockets to do good things.

Any thoughts?

I have looked into carbon credits more than a few times, since I own 900 acres of forest in the tropics. Yet to find anything worth the trouble. The last thing I heard was the availability of already certified carbon credits has created a backlog of 5 years compared to those buying them.

Fred Morgan wrote:I have looked into carbon credits more than a few times, since I own 900 acres of forest in the tropics. Yet to find anything worth the trouble. The last thing I heard was the availability of already certified carbon credits has created a backlog of 5 years compared to those buying them.

That's a bummer. I thought I had stumbled upon an idiotic regulation which could be used for good.

Cal Skins wrote:

That's a bummer. I thought I had stumbled upon an idiotic regulation which could be used for good.

Yesterday I was talking to a lawyer in the energy markets and he confirmed that most everything has died after 2008 and shows no signs of revival. The problem was, that unless it is done on the federal level, to start doing carbon credits makes you noncompetitive with your neighboring states who are not imposing them.

As usual, it is the Tragedy of the Commons.

This is the kind of activity that you would want to collectivize, because you need to develop a robust model to quantify change over time and account for differences among enrolled systems. There will be systems created, but they will cater to large corporate land holders unless there is a strong stakeholder base pushing groups like NRCS to develop mechanisms for small land holders to get certified. Ultimately you'd be creating an interest in your property through a carbon sequestration easement, that will affect your ability to manage your land... so you'd have to define an area that you are willing to be subjected to this kind of routine.

An alternative is section 404 wetland banking, or ESA banking, both of which are in their infancy.

Here is an example of what it has been taking to get carbon credit certification for estuary restoration
https://salishsearestoration.org/wiki/Coastal_Blue_Carbon_Project

In short, because you are putting your land into public service, you'd lose some land rights to insure the carbon outcome.

A transparent system that is backed by human permaculture work would rock. Maybe this is it?......
http://www.permacredits.com/