Consider offseting your carbon dioxide production

have you ever considered buying carbon offsets to help compensate for the C02 your lifestyle produces?

While there's conjecture over the long-term impact of offsetting our C02-producing first-world antics, offsetting your carbon footprint is affordable, and if you believe in the work the offset companies are doing, you might want to consider giving it a try.

Why buy offsets?

You don't need to fly a jumbo jet around the planet to have justification for buying carbon offsets. Nor do you need to own a V8 SUV. The way first-world dwellers live -- the way our society is structured -- means our activities necessarily release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, increasing global warming and promoting climate change.

Offsetting your carbon footprint may be one way to take responsibility for the inevitable carbon production that first world life entails.

But my lifestyle's really green!

Sure, I don't doubt it. So's mine, but I'm still producing carbon through my first-world lifestyle:

• using public transport
• buying new manufactured products
• eating any intensively farmed food

The list just goes on, unfortunately.

What am I paying for?

When you buy a carbon offset, you're paying the company you bought it from to carry out some activity that is intended to reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere.

The activities vary between offset companies. Some plant trees. Some undertake gas flaring. Some invest in renewable energy.

Ultimately, the idea is that you work out how much carbon you need to offset for, say, a year living in your current lifestyle, and you buy sufficient offsets to take that much Co2 out of the atmosphere. Most offset sellers have calculators that will allow you to calculate your offsets, and work out how much you need to buy.

Is it expensive?

No. At Carbon Neutral, an Australian company that plants trees to offset carbon usage, I decided to see how much it would cost to offset my travel for the last year. I commuted 200km a day by train (averaged to 45,000km per year) and drove about 10,000 kms in my large, old diesel car.

The calculator told me that the total carbon dioxide output from my travel for the year was 3.34 tonnes, and the total to offset this usage was $67.60, which would enable Carbon Neutral to plant 20 trees.

Where can I buy offsets?

Do a web search for carbon offset sellers in your country or area, and review the ways they'll spend your money to offset your carbon dioxide output. Make sure the company you choose sells government-approved credits. For Australians, Choice magazine, the Institute for Sustainable Futures, and the Total Environment Centre have put together Carbon Offset Watch, which ranks and comments on the offsets offered and the companies supplying them.

Once you've found one you're happy with, you can calculate and purchase your offsets online using your credit card. And yes, you can buy carbon offsets as a gift...

Have you ever bought carbon offsets?