I've noticed that one of the hotel programs has an option of donating points to offset CO2 emissions. An average hotel night collects 3000 points, and according to the calculations, 2000 points are needed to offset the stay-induced emission. So is this the next trend?

If airlines offer this redemption option, it can help create the "Green Mileage Run": First, you collect enough EQMs to get the elite status. Then, you donate enough award miles to offset the emission.

What exactly do they use those points for? Or do they figure that by taking them away you won't get a free stay as quickly and therefore you will use less energy?

What I want to know is what has happened to that rainforest I helped Greepeace buy in South America fifteen years ago. Is it still there? Was it sold to some multinational logging company? What exactly are the protections when donating to something like this?

How on earth would a hotel chain know how many point it took to offset the CO2 emissions of my stay? The amount of offset depends greatly on the amount of energy I'm not using at my permanent home during the hotel stay. That will range from very little to some - for example, when I'm on a business trip and three other people are at home - to a net decrease in emissions for others - for example, someone who lives alone in a space larger than the hotel room. (Maybe the "offset" for that person should be bonus points. )

Maybe an airline will set up a way to donate to a "green" charity, but I don't see this as a big trend. Currently, in the U.S., there is no good mechanism to donate FF miles. I'm not complaining about that: I'd rather keep the IRS as distant from the mileage business as possible and just donate cash and/or my time to the charities of my choice, using the miles for free travel.

There aren't any. It's sort of like donating miles for any other purpose. An airline is going to work with its accountants, tax attorneys, and PR people to design charitable programs. They will bake these into their business plans whether or not you and I provide our miles to "fund" the free flights. The only impact we have by donating is reducing the airline's balance of outstanding miles.

If you have a really good relationship with a local charity that has a use for air travel, you could work with them to donate miles directly - the caveat probably being that you'd have to donate chunks of 25,000 (or more) at a time. If I really wanted to donate miles, this is what I'd do: probably call the children's hospital and start talking to people until I found someone who could put a free ticket to use. But since there's no real infrastructure in place to do this, I'd probably just give 'em a regular unrestricted donation that they could prioritize towards air travel if necessary.

Disclaimer: IANAL. Or an accountant...

something doesnt really sound right about all this

Yet another scam!

I would suggest that travel by foot would be a more appropriate hobby/pastime/interest for a greenie than would be MRing.

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I'm still waiting for someone to prove how "offsets" work. Carbon offsets are a bogus currency that make people feel good about themselves. Want to be green? Don't take the flight in the first place. Some tree the airline plants isn't going to take carbon out of the sky when it's released at 35,000 feet.

The problem is that any environmental strategy based on halting human progress is doomed to fail. The simple fact is that we aren't going to go back to some earlier form of mass transit on routes that are currently served by jets - unless a better technology is developed.

"Better technology" can include a variety of things: better high-speed rail in some parts of the world, better new aviation technologies, better processes/ATC that enable today's jets to burn less fuel, etc.

These will be some of the biggest new product opportunities of the next couple of decades - environmental innovations that drive progress forward, not backwards.

...But I do agree with you on the offset thing. If it drives charitable donations, great, but the underlying premise of removing guilt is somewhat hokey.

Write a letter to Al Gore, he will explain it all!

Afterall, he did win a Nobel prize!!! I wonder if he going to WALK to Oslo in December to pick up his prize and check???

Nah, they'll bring it to him in his 456,111 square foot house.

Some airlines allow you to offset your CO2 emissions via various carbon-offsetting schemes. if you ever believe in such schemes, then if you buy mileage run ticket and pay for CO2 offsetting then your MR will be officially considered "carbon-neutral"... isnt it?
AX