Air Travel and the Environment - Climate Crisis, Climate Change and Carbon Taxes

The impact of air travel and the environment is increasingly being noted by air travelers and also by airlines. In an effort to reduce the damage caused by air travel, a few airlines are looking at carbon offsets of their own, to neutralize the effects of their flights on the environment. As travelers, there are hundreds of projects that you can buy carbon offsets to neutralize your footprint on the global climate.

Carbon offsets, or carbon neutral flights, is when you calculate the environmental impact of your activities, in this case flights, and a price is allotted as to how much that impact actually cost. Then you give that amount to a carbon offset program which can range from tree planting to wind turbines.

The following are just some of the several hundreds of programs out there to make your next flight a carbon neutral one.

• Native Energy
  From the website: "NativeEnergy helps you help build Native American, farmer-owned, community based renewable energy projects that create social, economic, and environmental benefits."
• Carbon Fund
  This U.S. based, non-profit organization has carbon offset projects that include reforestation and renewable energy projects.
• Global Cool
  This U.K. based organization focusses on energy efficiency and renewable energy sources for its carbon offsetting programs.
• Sustainable Travel International(STI)
  This not-for-profit organization, based in the U.S., is geared towards education and outreach services with a focus on the effects of travel and tourism. Supports several projects around the world.
• Carbon Neutral
  Based in the UK, Carbon Neutral has several projects in different parts of the world.
• Uniglobe Travel Canada
  When you travel with Uniglobe Travel, you can purchase carbon offset certificates, with the money then invested in sustainable technology projects in Canada.
• Ben and Jerry
  The icecream makers support NativeEnergy, a tribal-owned company, which is constructing a wind farm in South Dakota.
• Climate Friendly
  This Australian company has projects that include wind energy in Australia and New Zealand.
• Terrapass
  Terrapass projects
  Based in California, Terrapass is involved in several projects as linked to above.
• Zero Footprint
  This not-for-profit organization for U.S. and Canadian residents gives you different packages of offset options.
• Treeflights.com
  This U.K. based organization plants trees as a carbon offset and has maps of where their current projects are located.
• An Inconvenient Truth
  The official site of the Al Gore documentary may not be a site to purchase carbon offsets but it can give you a lot of information about climate change so that you can decide your own course of action.