FutureForests: Carbon Offsets for Travellers

This Treehugger correspondent is soon joining 450 of his closest friends aboard a 747, to escape for a holiday. But what to do about all that ‘av gas’ the Jumbo will consume, before spitting the residue into the atmosphere as global warming emissions? FutureForests are happy to rescue this guilty conscience. Like the Greenfleet program we previously mentioned for car travel, they also have one for air journeys. A Long Haul jaunt like London to Sydney is calculated to emit the equivalent of 3.75 tonnes of CO2 per person. To offset this one can opt to pay FutureForests £50 ($65 USD) which will fund either five trees in a forest of their choice, one that's set aside to grow for at least 40 years. This should make such a flight 'Carbon Neutral'. Or...

... it can go into five energy saving lightbulbs for a developing community. Packages are also available for offsetting energy used in activities such as driving, homes, weddings, birthdays and so on. A similar program in Europe is called Trees for Travel. In the US you can try Better World , who we’ve noted for their bicycle roadside service. ::FutureForests [by WM]