Last Week Tonight and the truth about carbon offsets
John Oliver knows how to start a fight. Whether it’s between himself and a small American town or between a mother and daughter watching his show on Black Lives Matter (my spouse and her mom didn’t talk for weeks after that episode).
The topic can sometimes be obscure, meaning most viewers have little opinion on the matter until after the show ends. For better or worse, most of John Oliver’s fans (myself being one of them) accept what he tells us as facts.
He covers very complicated topics, so he is not always going to get it 100% correct, but I believe the spirit of his show is in the right place. That doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be corrected when he only presents part of the story.
In his recent episode on carbon offsets, he talked a lot about the greenwashing happening in the carbon offset market but he left out crucial details.
It was interesting to watch my partner get all riled up during the episode like I usually do. She is not well versed in the carbon offset market but knows we have a climate crisis on our hands. I work in the industry and have a greater understanding of the challenge in front of us, and the necessary solutions.
J-O was right about there being a lot of shady carbon offset projects. The projects he…
