From the streets of Cardiff to the Houses of Parliament, the satirical infidelity offset company cheatneutral.com sparked an important and timely debate about the inadequacies of carbon offsetting.
Cheat Neutral's 'Managing Director' on the BBC
MP Alan Simpson telling his right honourable gentlemen about cheat offsetting
On February 14th 2007, cheatneutral.com was born. The world’s first infidelity offset service, it offered a market-based solution to rising concentrations of heartbreak in the atmosphere. For the cost of a condom, it enabled those who have cheated on their partners, whether a drunken snog at the office party or a sustained period of bigamy, to have their cheating 'offset' by a global network of fidelity.
Cheat offsetting is, of course, a joke – much to the embarrassment of the American radio show hosts who decided to interview the website creators live on air. But it has proved a highly successful tool for ridiculing the madness that actually exists – carbon offsetting – and sparking an important debate about how best to go about averting climate change.
Within two months of launching, Cheat Neutral had found it’s way onto the BBC News and into the Houses of Parliament, bringing a bit of welcome humour to an otherwise difficult subject. And now the short documentary Cheat Neutral is due to screen at many major film festivals around the world.
A five minute version of the film is also currently only about 150 votes away from first place in an online competition at www.scenewon.com. This is significant because Global Cool (who sponsor the competition) currently promote offsetting as a way to reduce emissions and give quite a bit of money to the Carbon Neutral Company. Hopefully Cheat Neutral's success will make them think about putting less emphasis on offsetting and more emphasis on the need for REAL emissions reductions in the West and a binding international framework for carbon reductions.
If you’d like to order a free copy of the 13 minute documentary on DVD for local screenings, please contact
beth@cheatneutral.com.
And if you want to help Cheat Neutral win the online competition please register at www.scenewon.com, login and rate the film before 30th June.
Cheat offsetting is, of course, a joke – much to the embarrassment of the American radio show hosts who decided to interview the website creators live on air. But it has proved a highly successful tool for ridiculing the madness that actually exists – carbon offsetting – and sparking an important debate about how best to go about averting climate change.
Within two months of launching, Cheat Neutral had found it’s way onto the BBC News and into the Houses of Parliament, bringing a bit of welcome humour to an otherwise difficult subject. And now the short documentary Cheat Neutral is due to screen at many major film festivals around the world.
A five minute version of the film is also currently only about 150 votes away from first place in an online competition at www.scenewon.com. This is significant because Global Cool (who sponsor the competition) currently promote offsetting as a way to reduce emissions and give quite a bit of money to the Carbon Neutral Company. Hopefully Cheat Neutral's success will make them think about putting less emphasis on offsetting and more emphasis on the need for REAL emissions reductions in the West and a binding international framework for carbon reductions.
If you’d like to order a free copy of the 13 minute documentary on DVD for local screenings, please contact
beth@cheatneutral.com. And if you want to help Cheat Neutral win the online competition please register at www.scenewon.com, login and rate the film before 30th June.