Patti Sarantero and her husband, Ben Thoron, who have three sons and live in San Diego, already recycle or compost their trash, and use compact fluorescent light bulbs. Last year, they decided to do even more to help the environment: they paid a company to help them offset some of the carbon they use.
Ms. Saraniero logged on to the Web site of TerraPass, a retailer of offsets in San Francisco, used its online calculator to figure out the amount of carbon she needed to offset and paid the company $100 to do it. Companies like TerraPass allow consumers to invest in projects like renewable energy and reforestation in an effort to remove from the atmosphere an amount of greenhouse gas equal to that produced by their cars, airplane trips and home energy use.
“I’m glad we do it, but I’m also a little ambivalent about it,” Ms. Saraniero said. “I’m not so keen about someone making a buck off of global warming, but our options are limited at the moment. I want to drive a hybrid, but can’t afford one big enough for all of us. So I use offsets.”
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