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With climate change on everyone’s minds, purchasing carbon credits offers a means to alleviate some of our green guilt. Terms like ”carbon neutral”, “carbon credits”, “carbon offsets” etc. are thrown around the green community to describe ways we can absolve our carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to climate change. The average American contributes over 20 tons of carbon a year, and the family vacation is a part of this equation.

Because we live off the grid and run biodiesel (B99) in our truck, I’ve never been too concerned with purchasing carbon credits; however, this summer, my family will be taking a flight across the United States to visit family. According to the CarbonNeutral Company, “Airline flights are among the fastest growing sources of global warming gases.” There are many websites that provide carbon calculators to help you figure out how much carbon your vacation will emit. For example, the flight calculator at Conservation.org figures our trip will contribute 4.4 tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, which we can offset for a $44.00 donation.

In my experience, most carbon calculators are not specific enough in an effort to be quick and simple. For example, when calculating the figure above for our flight, I did not enter in how many stops or the exact mileage of the flight. To figure out my family’s carbon emissions for a year, I used zerofootprint’s carbon calculator, because it allowed me to enter our renewable energy source. I discovered that our family emits 1.37 tons of carbon a year (excluding the flight this summer). I was astounded to discover that our family vacation will emit more than three times the carbon we emit all year and thus contribute to climate change! We definitely fall well below the national average of 20 tons of carbon a year; however, my green guilt over our summer flights has me thinking about purchasing carbon credits.

What happens to your money when you purchase carbon credits? According to Maria Surma Manka of Green Options, “Carbon credits range from tree planting (trees absorb or “breathe” carbon dioxide) to donating to an organization that develops solar ovens in Africa that don’t need to burn wood (and release carbon) to cook food.” The basic principle is that the money is used to help other people reduce their carbon footprint to offset your emissions. The whole thing reminds me of the Catholic Church’s abuse of indulgences in the Middle Ages by accepting money to absolve sin, which partially led to Reformation. For sufferers of green guilt, carbon is the sin. Wouldn’t it be better if we reduced our own carbon footprint, rather than purchase carbon credits?

So what should a family do to lessen the impact of their summer vacation? SusTravel offers a different kind of carbon calculator. Based on the miles of your flight, this calculator gives you suggestions on how to offset the carbon of your trip through your own actions. For example, if I rode my bike instead of drove my car for 2,133 miles, I could offset this trip through my own actions (and I would be in great physical shape!). Alternately, many travel sites and airlines are now offering travelers the option to buy carbon offsets when they purchase their plane tickets. Expedia, Air Canada, and Continental Airlines offer voluntary carbon offset options for green passengers. Personally, I think this should be a mandatory tax on all airline flights. We need to do something about climate change now!

Editor’s Note: Thanks so much to Jennifer Lance, who is participating in the ongoing Green article swap between GNMParents and Green Options. Jennifer is a regular over at Green Options, a fantastic site which succeeds in their efforts to “provide a place where you can sort out the flash from the trash, and make informed decisions that allow you to live a responsible, healthy and abundant life.” GNMParents contributor, Tiffany, will have her article posted at this Green Options link. Thanks for visiting, Jennifer! And special thanks to Jeff at Green Options, for all the help!

[tags]a little greener, environmental, greenhouse gases, global warming, carbon offset, carbon neutral, carbon credits, terrapass, travel, vacation[/tags]
Photo graciously provided by Ozyman, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved