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Things have changed since offsetting began. It's no longer just planing trees to offset greenhouse gases; it now includes investment in energy conservation, renewable energy, and other technologies of sustainability.
This is a case of caveat emptor: Where is your $4 going?
Offsetting is better than doing nothing, assuming it's investment into sustainability. But, sure enough, there is much the average North American can do to reduce his or her footprint. Sustainability starts at home, but it doesn't end there.
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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön
Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot
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