Who offsets?

Tom Arnold--chief environmental officer at TerraPass, not Roseanne's ex-husband--sent me a link to the results of a survey TerraPass just completed asking:  What does the TerraPass clientele look like?  (please keep all hippie/Birkenstock jokes to yourself).  In other words, are TerraPass' carbon offsetters greenies who also participate in other environmentally friendly activities or big-honkin SUV drivers using offsets to assuage their guilt?  The results--it looks like the greenies win.

Here are some of the results.

• 26% of TerraPass customers take public transportation to work. This is more than 5 times the national average.
• An astonishing 24% of TP customers bike to work, 22 times the national average.
• 64% of customers have installed compact fluorescent light bulbs. Fully 25% of these people opted to install the bulbs after purchasing their TerraPass, so maybe the conservation tips are working.
• 16% drive hybrids, about 7 times the national average. Again, 25% of these people switched to a hybrid after purchasing their TerraPass.
• Here’s an interesting one: 50% of TerraPass customers have contacted an elected representative about climate change. I’m glad to hear this, because exerting political influence is the most important thing we can do to fight climate change.
• TerraPass customers are also active contributors to other environmental causes. Fully 69% of you support green charities.
• An astonishing 6% of you have solar panels on your home. This is 200 times the national average.

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You may remember that I bought a TerraPass for my Subaru, before trading it in on a Prius.

(This year I've done CarbonFund.org)