Free Republic

If Frontier Airlines proceeds with plans to let customers purchase “carbon offsets” along with their tickets, you can bet that its sales pitch will be all green and no yellow — all environmental upside and no buyer beware. You can be sure that customers who purchase the offsets — “more than $30 for a round-trip domestic flight,” the Rocky reported — will do so assuming they are about to neutralize the environmental effects of their flight and that the climate gods are smiling from the clouds. What those customers aren’t likely to see at the Frontier counter, in other words,...

Do trees make it OK to drive an SUV? By MICHAEL HILL, Associated Press Writer 8 minutes ago If you plant some trees, is it OK to drive an Escalade? The question isn't as silly as it sounds. People worried about global warming increasingly are trying to "offset" the carbon dioxide — the leading greenhouse gas — they spew into the atmosphere when they drive, fly or flick on a light. One idea popular with the eco-conscious is to have trees planted for them. You get to keep driving and flying, but those trees are supposed to suck in your...

Industry caught in carbon ‘smokescreen’ By Fiona Harvey and Stephen Fidler in LondonPublished: April 25 2007 22:07 | Last updated: April 25 2007 22:07 Companies and individuals rushing to go green have been spending millions on “carbon credit” projects that yield few if any environmental benefits.A Financial Times investigation has uncovered widespread failings in the new markets for greenhouse gases, suggesting some organisations are paying for emissions reductions that do not take place. Others are meanwhile making big profits from carbon trading for very small expenditure and in some cases for clean-ups that they would have made anyway.The growing political...