Super Eco

Photo credit: jimmyharris, flickr

Are you guilty of writing off your travel guilt by purchasing carbon offsets—without changing your travel habits in the least? One of the first travel companies to offer travelers the option to purchase carbon offsets along with their tickets thinks the move might not be so responsible after all. Responsible Travel is siding with the doubters, canceling its offset program and claiming that not only do offsets not impact global emissions levels but that by promoting a false sense of virtuosity, they may actually encourage additional air travel. “The carbon offset has become this magic pill, a kind of get-out-of-jail-free card,” Responsible Travel's Justin Francis told The New York Times. "It's seductive to the consumer who says, ‘It’s $4 and I’m carbon-neutral, so I can fly all I want.’ ”

Responsible Travel ends its seven-year relationship with offsets as other companies are still climbing on board. United Airlines became the latest American airline to add an offset program this summer. Other organizations, from Yahoo to the United States House of Representatives, recently ditched carbon offset trials, saying the money was better spent improving their energy efficiency in other ways.

Now wait just a minute—what are you supposed to do about that holiday trip you have planned? Go ahead and buy a carbon offset. It'll ease your conscience, and every little bit helps, after all. That's not a bad thing. But Responsible Travel has a point: if offsets are actually encouraging frequent flyers to fly even more frequently (because, well, why not?), then the net result is not very eco-friendly at all. All semblance of personal responsibility and personal carbon budgets gets thrown out the window. And that's where Responsible Travel and responsible travelers alike think it's time to clip the wings of offset programs.