Used to think carbon offset credits were just a guilt tax for rich people

Then my brother bought a plane ticket with a $12 offset option and the airline actually funded a methane capture project at a dairy farm near his town in Wisconsin. Has anyone verified where their offset money actually goes?

3 comments

3 Comments

miller.rowan1mo ago

Same thing happened with mine, totally changed my view on offsets.

sage_green1mo ago

Offsets aren't really meant to be a perfect fix for everything, they're more like a bandage. The whole idea is that you should be reducing your own emissions first before you buy them. A lot of people skip that step and just pay for offsets without changing their habits, then get surprised when it doesn't feel like enough. That's probably why your view shifted, because it's easy to realize they're not a substitute for actually living differently.

tessa_murray1mo ago

Three out of four people I know who bought offsets felt exactly the same way after a few months. It's like paying someone else to go to the gym for you and wondering why you're still out of shape. You end up with lighter wallet and the same carbon footprint you started with.