Carbon Offset Credits. What are they?

I had the opportunity over the holidays to visit a friend in South Africa. Before my trip I began researching the amount of pollution caused by air travel. I discovered that in addition to the carbon dioxide and other pollutants released, aviation pollution is even more damaging because of the high altitudes in which pollutants are released. Jet airliners operate near the tropopause, the atmospheric boundary between the troposphere and the stratosphere. When planes leave vapor trails in the sky it can lead to the artificial formation of cirrus cloud formation. Some estimates even say that cloud cover may have increased 0.2% since the discovery of aviation. In addition to artificial cloud formation, the release of pollutants at high altitudes can cause a reaction with other green house gasses, increasing ozone concentrations. So what is a world traveler to do in this moral conundrum?

This is where carbon offset credits come in. The concept is simple. You go on to a website like carbonfund.org, and purchase donations to verified carbon offset projects. These projects include renewable energy and methane projects, energy efficiency projects, and reforestation and avoided deforestation projects. There are a number of preset packages you can purchase based on the kind of car you drive or the size of the house you live in, or you can use their custom carbon calculator to calculate the amount of pollutants your flight will create. My flight was from Philly to DC, then from DC to Dekar, Senegal and finally from Dekar to Johannesburg, South Africa- annnnd back. The calculator determined that these flights would emit 3.95 metric tons of CO2 emissions. I was able to purchase credits in a project of my choosing and flew easier knowing that my donation was going towards verified projects to offset my footprint. I will continue to use this service for my future travel plans and urge you to do the same. For sustainability, it’s a step in the right direction.

Posted in: Alex Felts,green,Green Source