What to do about the Poker Run?

I wrote a letter to the Kingston Whig Standard today concerning an event this weekend in the Kingston Canada and Thousand Islands region called the "Poker Run". Large powerful motorboats are shown off to spectators while they travel up and down the St. Lawrence River. About 100 boat crews and tens of thousands of tourists come to the area to see the boats and come especially to Kingston, Ontario. On the other hand, this event and its gas-guzzling marine craft are not very compatible with Kingston's official vision of being Canada's most sustainable city.

For a little background, read this article in the Whig
and this TV news report and This editorial in the Whig

I've tried to propose an idea that I think could help make some progress. It's based on local greenhouse gas offsets and triple bottom line accounting: finding solutions with financial, environmental, and social benefits.

Dear Editor,

Several readers of the Whig-Standard have written about this past weekend's
Poker Run event.

I would like to take the discussion about the Poker Run, its greenhouse gas
emissions, and Kingston's vision to be Canada's most sustainable city, in a
different direction.

First, I would disagree with one of the letter writers. The planet is not
doing fine. Global warming is a real threat, especially to future
generations. The greenhouse gas emissions from the Poker Run impose a real
cost on the whole world by contributing to global warming.

On the other hand, the Poker Run contributes a lot to local economic
activity in the Kingston region.

I would suggest that if we, the City of Kingston, benefit so much from the
Poker Run, it is only fair that we assume the responsibility for its
greenhouse gas emissions. I would further suggest, therefore, that we, and
perhaps not the powerboaters, purchase high quality greenhouse gas offsets
that cause the reduction of the greenhouse gas emissions elsewhere, and
cancel the emissions from the Poker Run.

That elsewhere could be in Kingston itself. In fact, based on some
calculations that I have done, the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions
from the Poker Run boats is roughly comparable to the greenhouse gas
emissions coming from one year's venting of anaesthetic gases from surgeries
at Kingston's hospitals. Technology, from an Ontario company called
Blue-Zone, exists to recover and recycle these expensive chemicals, but it
costs a little money up front, and who can blame our hospitals for having a
hard time coming up with extra money to recover anaesthetic gases. So (and
this is the crucial point) if someone provided the funding to do that every
year, then emissions would be prevented that otherwise would continue. As an
aside, hospitals would actually benefit in the future from being able to
obtain anaesthetics at lower cost.

Perhaps there is a way for local merchants, people concerned about global
warming, Kingston hospitals, powerboating enthusiasts, an Ontario technology
startup, and Kingston's branding as a sustainable city to make a little
progress together?