The thought of global warming provokes an image of a gradual heating up of our planet. We may think about the devastating impacts that a gradual heating up would have on us and our environment. The melting of the polar ice cap, sea level rise and ferocious storms spring to mind. That some of our activities may contribute to global warming is a common song sung by scientists.

Whether or not you choose to believe the mainstream of scientists, perhaps the fundamental concept of carbon offsets require that we consider our impact on the environment. Are we harming the environment in any way by our activities? You do not have to believe in the idea of global warming to feel somewhat less guilty about your impact on the environment by considering the use of carbon offsets.

That we may pay to plant trees as a form of carbon offsets to counter the environmental impacts of our activities provides a sense of well being and perhaps even complacency that we may engage in any activity regardless of its environmental impacts. In any event, it is the thought of carbon offsets that matters.

That thought or feeling then may lead to our usage of carbon offsets. Thought translates into action. Perhaps then, carbon offsets such as paying to plant trees helps fight global warming by soaking in carbon dioxide instead of allowing it to flow through in our atmosphere with other green house gasses where it may conduct and absorb heat from the sun and contribute to a gradual warming our planet. In any case, the planting of the tree will have numerous benefits on our environment. From its aesthetic qualities to providing a life giving world to the creatures on our planet.

The challenge is therefore for us to consider whether we carry on living the way that we do ignorant of the impact of our activities on the environment. Do we say that we will simply use carbon offsets to counter the impacts of our activities on our planet which just might avert global warming in the future? Maybe we ought to modify our activities in some way that reduces our environmental impacts and ultimately the chances of global warming occurring. Global warming may just be a probability and not a certainty.

In any event, we are forced to ponder with the concept of carbon offsets the impact of our activities on the environment. Maybe just maybe we choose to act in an environmentally responsible way. The chances of global warming just got smaller.

Learn more about this author, Vincent J.D. Grant.
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