Do you want to pay 20 cents extra so you can drive CO2 neutral, sir?

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(Edited)

I think I'm getting old.

I was doing some house choirs the other day and felt like listening to some music.

Nothing too complex...so I settled for some simple fun pop music.

When scrolling through my Spotify I eventually settled for a playlist from the 00's.

As horrible as it sounds I just prefer it to the modern-day stuff.

And I ended up having fun listening to the tracks of my teenage years.

I guess this is how it starts.

Getting older.

"Everything used to be better".

Admittedly I am starting to show this behavior with more things.

I went to get some gas today.



I filled the tank and went to pay.

"Do you want to pay 20 cents extra so you can drive CO2 neutral, sir?" the girl at the counter said.

I never heard this before ever. This was new.

It made me slightly confused. I was just here getting some gas, a simple act.

I didn't want to be confronted with his new 'choice'.

I said 'No' to the girl.

But getting in my car I did detect a small sense of guilt.

Maybe I did the wrong thing.

Should I drive Co2 neutral?

I never felt so bad getting gas as today.

I did some research and apparently that 20 cents extra (1 cent per liter) will be used to take care of some trees.

But I can't help but think...who's going to check if that's truly done.

It seems more to me that CO2, in this case, is being used to make me pay a little more to take my guilt away.

Who knows?...maybe I am too skeptical.

It did make me think though.

Would it be possible to use CO2 as a guilt tool to create a new religion?

The climate religion, because it applies to everyone. Everyone is guilty.

Just like the good old days where you could pay the church for your sins, now you can pay companies for your sins.

"I am a dirty fossil fuel driving human being....but thank fuck I already paid for my sins at the gas station so I'm all good!"

You, see?

This is how my head works when I'm confronted with these ideas when doing a simple activity like buying a product.

I don't want to think about it, I find it very tiring.

I wish Shell would just do this for me.

Hide the 20 cents in the gas price and just make me and everyone else that gets gas CO2 neutral all the time if it's so easy to do by planting some trees.

But it won't be so. Now every time I go to Shell I will have to go through the guilt trip.

Which will make avoid Shell and go to the unmanned pump.

So I can get gas in peace.



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30 comments
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I think your jadedness is perfectly warranted; you might even call it “wisdom” or “discernment,” both of which come with age...
Trouble is, you start to see through things like this and it gets very lonely because everyone else seems to be jumping on the bandwagon and you can’t understand why they are so blind. (#newsteem ?)

!BEER

$trendotoken

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The CO2 tax should be introduced at a much earlier stage in the value chain. And to check whether remedial measures such as the tree planting in your example really gets done, some type of blockchain based supply chain management solution could help consumers do just that.

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Just like the good old days where you could pay the church for your sins

I was doing some house choirs

I’m sensing a theme here.

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Haha...I am now wondering if I should leave that typo in :)

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To listen to the audio version of this article click on the play image.

Brought to you by @tts. If you find it useful please consider upvoting this reply.

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(Edited)

Yeah, that's really fun to read but damn reality there. Also if they automatically charge 20 cents people think it's unnecessary and if they ask, we out of guilt may be pay but again avoid to go there. Because it's like either way pressuring us. Humans don't like pressure either way even for a good cause.

Instead of it they should have a box like for donations for plantations, may wrapped with a posters showing their work. May be regular people who goes there donate once per two weeks or like month more than 2-3 $ to encourage their work.

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This CO2 delusion is more dangerous than the inevitable changing climate. We'll adapt perfectly well to climate changes as long as we avoid wasting resources on nonsense like carbon offsets. See my video for more details.

Posted using Partiko iOS

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I can't remember the last time I went into a gas station to actually pay for it. Pay at the pump is quite possibly the single greatest invention of all time! Anything to help me avoid having to make direct contact with another human being or engage in small talk :) They ask you to donate extra for this or that pretty much every where you go over here.

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I never had this donate question before. Must be irritating if they ask all the time.

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Oh yes, there is always something they want you to give to. At the pet store it is local shelters, at the grocery store it is starving children. My wife and I had one just the other day that was different and interesting, but I can't remember what it was now.

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All hail carbon dioxide the mightiest dioxide of all.
But seriously paying 20cents extra or like 1 cent a litre I guess ain't gonna do much.
I'm more interested in that 2000s playlist. Back in the days when oil was like 120 a barrel and we were worried about running out of the stuff.
Don't get me wrong I like the earth but the has station isn't the best place to worship it.

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Call me pessimistic or whatever. They make enough, why not take an initiative to reduce money from lobbyists and report their updates on co2 neutrality.

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Yes the music of today sucks, even my 15yr old daughter says the same. Can't just be us getting older then?

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That's good to hear!

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Does anyone really believe that giving more $ to an oil company will improve the ecosystems on this planet?

Posted using Partiko Android

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(Edited)

This is such a huge topic of discussion right now. Greta Thornburn (name is likely not correct) the 16 yr old climate activist is in our province touring. The issues are so complex. It's so highly unlikely any additional tax or guilt is going to help. We need an entire revamp. A new system, new social structures and norms. It's a pretty big gong show out there for sure. My daughter prefers listening to "older" (is it really that old 😂) music too!! Haha Back to feeling guilty -- the engine was made to run on hemp fuel and to create water as a byproduct. The old companies chose to change that so they could profit for all these years. Geez Louise, let them pay for the planting and stewarding of new trees to help mitigate this disasters. While cars begin to change to a more sustainable type. No one needs to feel guilty for living for even one second! Mommamia!!

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Pretty good point of view and a gas station is not a good campaign option as to force drivers pay that. If we would to go fully green, make electric cards more affordable or some other fuel which is more user friendly.

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Don't be guilty for spewing CO2.........Basically plant food......Good for the environment.

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No it’s not
It’s literally plant food 🤣

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Lol! Alright plant food :)

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Send me 10c worth of steem every time to fill up, i'll look after some trees for you. Will even post photos of the trees that you cared for every now and then :)

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(Edited)

Deal! STEEM sent. I'll force you to post again! :)

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haha guess i'm committed now, give me a week lol,

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