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I think carbon offsets are fine in certain applications.
If I'm not mistaken, originally they came about in the airline industry to offset the impact of air travel. There are many (I'm not one of them) who need to use air travel for their careers. I think it's a great idea that they can buy offsets scaled to the amount they travel.
On the same token, if your home is energy efficient, you use public transportation (or work at or within walking distance to home), and you abide by the 500-mile diet, buying offsets from your energy company would allow you to do that much more to help.
If people can't give up their car for economic reasons, why not have offsets as an option to do something?
I think it all comes down to where the money is invested. I'd put money into this if it meant wind farms being built, for example.
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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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