What am I talking about?  Well, a few companies have actually started focusing on reducing their climate pollution rather than using carbon offsets to side-step their responsibility to clean up their act.

I know — it’s an outrage!

For example, the so-called “ethical” travel company, Responsible Travel — one of the first to offer carbon offsets to its customers back in 2002 — has now dropped the practice, saying industry’s priority should be to “‘reduce carbon emissions, rather than offset.  Check out this stupid stuff they spouted to the Economist magazine:

Justin Francis, the company’s managing director, said that offsets were like “a ‘medieval pardon’ for us to carry on behaving in the same way, or worse…

“Medieval pardon?”  So we can “carry on behaving in the same way, or worse?”  That’s EXACTLY the POINT, smarty-pants!  Who died and made you the non-longer-offering-carbon-offsets medieval pope?

Nobody, that’s who.

Woodcarving: Selling indulgences back in the day.

Now Nike is getting into the act, working on actually reducing its pollution rather than offsetting.  Ok, whatever swoosh-heads.  I don’t know what’s in the air up there in Oregon, but it’s clearly making you confused about where your priorities should be…namely, getting off the hook, not getting off your butts and doing something about climate pollution.

Why would you invest in clean technologies when you can just kinda outsource that somewhere else in the globe where you don’t have to deal with it?  Sweep it under the rug!!! Outta sight, outta mind, that’s my motto!

Now, it’s one thing to decide to be holier-than-thou, but don’t drag the rest of us into this.  If innovative companies start a trend, they could undermine the faith and belief in carbon offsets…the whole house of virtual credited carbon offset cards could come tumbling down.  But that’s not going to happen.

Why do I say that?  Because, I am an optimist.  I have faith in human nature to embrace the sloth, greed, and gluttony — also popular medieval concepts — over improving ourselves and our behavior.  Don’t let the nay-sayers get you down.  Don’t stop believin’…or offsettin’!!!

"The Seven Deadly Sins" by Pieter Bruegel the Elder...keeps my faith in massive carbon offseting schemes strong.