Off-setting your carbon footprint

[NadineBaggott]

I saw a little snippet on tv t'other day about 'off-setting your carbon footprint'

what does this mean?

It means you still fly but you donate money somewhere to help someone (ie salve your conscience)

Seeing as we've always given aid to deserving projects/countries someone explain to me how this actually helps reduce carbon emissions?

I may just be having a senior moment and I'm prepared to be swayed but it sounds like a load of bollox to me.

There are companies that plant trees and do other things that improve the atmosphere(but these remain unregulated so there is no guarantee where the money is going)

I've just posted on another thread about recent work at Max Planck Institute that reveals that plants may actually be a source of methane. More work is being done to look into this but there is uncorroborated evidence from the Amazon to support this and if that is the case, there will have to be a rethinking of the efficacy of planting trees to offset carbon footprint.

Things are never as simple as they seem.