Offsetting the Fear of Flying

It was only after reading George Monbiot’s book, Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning, that I first became aware of how much CO₂ is emitted by air travel.  

According to Carbonfund.org, CO2 emissions in air travel vary by length of flight–ranging from .24 kg CO2 per passenger mile for short flights down to .18 kg CO2 per passenger mile for long flights. I believe these calculators assume a full plane so the carbon offset value is based on each person’s piece of the total.  Unfortunately, I had already booked a round-trip flight from New York City to Aruba and guilt immediately set in.  How could I be a climate change evangelist and then step onto that plane knowing I was greatly contributing to global warming?  And just how much CO₂ were my wife and I going to be responsible for?

Fortunately, there is a solution to this dilemma known as carbon offset.

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