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GiveToOedipus t1_jb1ccm5 wrote

Reply to comment by Gloomy_Possession-69 in A duo of 81-year-old women are on the adventure of a lifetime: Seeing the world in 80 days by OregonTripleBeam

While I agree that two elderly women taking a bucket list trip is barely a scratch on the surface compared to other sources of pollution, our collective actions are part of the issue and we should be cognizant of it with regards to the industries we support and the legislators we vote for. This trip is a non-issue witj argars to the bigger picture overall. Secondly, I don't think the "cabon offset" charges actually help do more than make people feel less guilty about their choices. Everything I've read and seen reported on the matter points to it being nothing more than PR for these companies and doesn't actually do anything to fix it. Some go toward planting trees, but that's assuming it actually happens, and others go towards things that were going to happen anyway.

https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2019/05/are-carbon-offsets-a-scam/

Point is, be careful with simple solutions being offered based on "offset" fess. Many of them are basically scams.

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SometimesFalter t1_jb2ck7v wrote

> two elderly women taking a bucket list trip is barely a scratch on the surface compared to other sources of pollution

Unfortunately air flight is very carbon intensive per passenger. One single flight can be equivalent to a person's carbon emissions for an entire year, per passenger. So if they visit 18 countries on 7 continents, for the two of them its possible this trip alone could generate up enough emissions as if they lived for 25 years longer each. Obviously they aren't directly generating it, but they're supporting the business nonetheless. This article itself is promoting air travel.

That said, we currently live in a very fortunate time where its possible to curb your emissions and legitimately offset your emissions. Flying to Europe for example and then taking advantage of the very large high-speed train network only for example. There are also carbon offset companies that directly pay farmers for carbon offset projects, or you could plant some trees yourself, growing large gardens, etc. It will take time but I say they probably have enough time and the means to offset their contribution.

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