Carbon Positive VS Carbon Negative

I sat in on a conference call not long ago that awakened a long since hibernating pet-peeve. This peeve of mine derives from the reluctance of the super-keen and super-green to commit to one term when referring to what is known as “offsetting more carbon dioxide than is emitted”. 

The phrase delivered from the other end of the call to describe this popular sustainability initiative was “Carbon-positive-or-carbon-negative-whatever-your-preference”.  Allow me to use this in a sentence, “When determining whether a project is carbon-positive-or-carbon-negative-whatever-your-preference there are many factors to consider”.

After this earth-loving tongue twister was delivered at minimum five more times and the call was over, I decided to take to my most loyal research tool, Google, and sleuth out the “correct” or at least more popular form…is it Carbon Positive or Carbon Negative?

Upon a modest review of the first few links it was clear, these two terms which are so blatantly opposed, are in fact consistently used interchangeably. As a career continuity-freak this usage flip-flopping had me pondering the idea of staging a protest atop the green roof at Synergy. I quickly reverted to the company blog after remembering that in fact I’m not much for protesting nor for hanging out on a rooftop on a rainy day in Mayvember.

I take it to you, our faithful greenies – what do you prefer?  Can we set the industry standard right here once and for all?

This could be the beginning of something really positive... OR negative.  

-Kelly O'Brien, Manager Operations and Marketing