Climate & Nature...

I'm about to fly from Portland, Maine, to Los Angeles, California -- a 5,000-plus mile trip that will generate an estimated 2.104 tonnes of greenhouse gases.

Luckily for me (and my conscience), I'm not a frequent flyer by any means, but if I were, there's something I can do to offset the impact of my trip.

I can buy carbon offsets.

For just a few dollars per tonne, I can choose to invest in building renewable energy resources or planting trees to suck some of that carbon dioxide back out of the air. A number of services offer carbon offsets, and the price varies from service to service, but each offers a similar benefit of trying to reduce greenhouse gases.

My personal favorite of the carbon offset services is Native Energy. I can use their web page to caculate the impact of any trip I take by car or plane (that's how I got the nubmers above), then invest in carbon offsets to compensate for the impact of my trip.

Offsetting this particular flight will cost me just $36, and I can choose to put that money toward NE's WindBuilders wind-energy program or their RemooableEnergy (heh) farm-methane program. In this case, the money actually goes toward building renewable energy plants on Native American land, creating not only sustainable energy but economic benefits for Native peoples.

Do you have a particular favorite carbon offsetting program? If so, let's hear about it!