In the past couple of years I’ve flown to atolls, such as Kiribati and Carterets, to undertake assignments documenting the effects of global warming and rising sea levels. The irony hasn’t escaped me that in flying to these far flung regions I, as well as any other frequent flyers, are contributing to the very demise of the islands that I am meant to be recording/documenting. To get to Kiribati and back I took, if I remember correctly, 10 flights, to Carterets and back was 6 flights.

It was with interest that I heard about this site, Greenseat, a site which lets you calculate how much “greenhouse gas” you help emit into the environment through your plane travel, and offers you the chance to buy “green credits’, ie. ways to compensate for these emissions, through forestry projects, planting of new tress which will help combat the gases, and also through proejcts which will prevent CO2 being released in the first place.

There is also a petition you can sign which will go to the airline industry asking them to include “green seats” in their business models, offering you the chance up front as you buy your ticket to also purchase “green credits”.