The new liberal salve for events like this will make you laugh. I was looking at the come on for a cruise for people who read the commie rag "The Nation". Included in the cost of the cruise was like an $11 enviro surcharge. The punters are told that those $11 will cover the cost of planting trees in Costa Rica and that those trees will balance out the C02 emitted by the activities related to the cruise.
I don't know whether to characterize that as sad or funny. And the chances that the money actually makes it into the ground in the form of trees? It's gotta be approaching zero - probably makes it into the pocket of some enviro-scamster stateside or perhaps into some Costa Rican plantation owner. But then even if it did become trees - so effin what?
It's both sad and funny. But the money did what it was intended to do--it gave a bunch of liberals the illusion that they were doing something really important, and it made them feel good about themselves. That's what it's all about for them. They don't care if they really solve a problem, just as long as they are perceived to be doing something so they'll look good, and so they will feel good about themselves.