SOME MEDIA CELEBRITIES, ALONG WITH SOME SECTORS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT, BELIEVE THAT INDIVIDUALS AND INSTITUTIONS CAN COMPENSATE THEIR POLLUTING ACTIVITIES BY "OFFSETTING" THEM, FOR EXAMPLE BY PLANTING TREES OR BY PURCHASING FOREST LANDS. ALREADY A GROWING NUMBER OF FOR-PROFIT COMPANIES AND NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS ARE ENTERING THE BOOMING FIELD OF SO-CALLED "CARBON OFFSETS", LIKE FUTURE FORESTS AND THE PROTOTYPE CARBON FUND.

BUT SOME ORGANIZATIONS ARE UNIMPRESSED AND UNENTHUSIASTIC, AND CLAIM THAT CARBON OFFSETS DO NOT ADDRESS THE ROOT CAUSES OF GLOBAL WARMING. THE FOLLOWING PRESS RELEASE PRETTY MUCH SUMS UP THEIR CASE:

Environmentalists Cry Foul at Rock Stars’, Polluting Companies’ “Carbon-Neutral” Claims

Environmentalists are launching protests against two British firms who say they are able to make their clients’ products and services harmless to the climate through tree-planting and other activities.

The environmentalists charge that the claims of Future Forests and Climate Care to be able to render air travel, Coldplay CDs, the Glastonbury Festival and hundreds of other products and activities “carbon neutral” or “climate neutral” cannot be verified and distract public attention from attempts to address the causes of climate change. They are sending letters to dozens of the firms’ clients asking them to reconsider their association with the companies.

FOR MORE CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON "CARBON NEUTRAL" CLAIMS, CHECK OUT SINKSWATCH, CDM WATCH AND THE WORLD RAINFOREST MOVEMENT.