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Air travel is a necessity for most of us — whether for business or to stay connected to our families spread around the country and world. The environmental impact from all that air travel is quite significant, but can at least be neutralized by carbon offset programs.
Given the economic state of the US airline industry, it’s not reasonable to expect that they could incur the costs of purchasing the carbon offsets. Similarly, most companies who are sending employees on business trips aren’t willing to pay an additional fee for carbon offsets.
However, there is a pool of assets that could be used to fund these carbon offsets: accumulated mileage in the airlines’ loyalty programs, such as United’s Mileage Plus and American Airlines’ AAdvantage. I would gladly and routinely use my earned mileage to offset all my travel, if those programs would provide that option.
So, I need your help. Join me in this campaign to demonstrate to the airlines that there is consumer demand — that they wouldn’t be wasting their time in setting up this program. Spread the word about this campaign. Link to it in your blog. Pass it around on Facebook and MySpace. Let’s make a difference.
