Haven’t we heard this before? Yep.

Here’s this week’s version of “the cure is worse than the disease”:

Staging a global forum on climate change is a dilemma, as it adds to the very problem it is trying to solve.Around 13,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) will be added to the Earth’s greenhouse effect from the December 1-12 meeting of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the UNFCCC said.

That estimate is based on a turnout of 8,000 people, but as of Sunday 10,657 people had registered for the talks.

Poland, which is hosting the meeting, “plans to offset the total emissions resulting from the conference once a final calculation has been made,” the UNFCCC said.

Under offsets, anyone emitting carbon can invest in a scheme that mitigates the pollution by the same amount.

Typical projects involve reforestation or transferring cleaner technology to developing countries in order to ease their own emissions of greenhouse gases.

The UNFCCC, based in Bonn, is sending 200 people to the Poznan talks, who are travelling by the most “carbon-friendly means possible,” either by train or bus, it said.

First off, buses and trains are not the most “carbon-friendly means possible.” Or bicycling. But I guess a Tour De Global Warming is a littletoo much to expect from the UN. And besides — it’s tough to carry dinner jackets and brie on a bike.

Personally, I’m going to start offsetting all my, ahem, “methane emissions” by reforesting my backyard with buried Greenpeace protesters. I hear their jello-streaked mohawks make for lovely foliage in autumn.