Les Jones

Environment > Buying Environmental Indulgences

Definition of indulgences, via Merriam-Webster:

1 : remission of part or all of the temporal and especially purgatorial punishment that according to Roman Catholicism is due for sins whose eternal punishment has been remitted and whose guilt has been pardoned (as through the sacrament of reconciliation)

And during the reign of more corrupt popes, one could outright buy indulgences in lieu of repenting or avoiding sin.

Which brings us to the latest from the press surrounding Gore's new climate change movie, An Inconvenient Fact. From The Corner:

Gore's representatives also stress that they are making the film "carbon neutral," which is done by sponsoring tree planting and other projects that offset carbon emissions in some way. All very well for the rich like Paramount Pictures or Al Gore for that matter. They can afford to make things carbon neutral. The ordinary worker who needs his car to get to his job generally can't afford to offset his emissions. Think about the implications for a moment - Al Gore, Laurie David et al can continue to use the benefits of fossil fuels because they can afford to offset them. The rest of us can't. Welcome to the new aristocracy, ladies and gentlemen.

Kudos to Gore for planting trees, but isn't this just buying environmental indulgences?