That suggestion is the motto of the Sierra Club and has been their hallmark philosophy on how to reduce man’s impact on nature, mainly parklands, for numerous decades. It is simple, inexpensive and conducive to extending the lifespan of parks for future generations…and it’s Jubbling at the core.

That idea was contemporized and tweaked to produce the carbon footprint philosophy. As defined by Merriam-Webster.com, a carbon footprint is “the negative impact that something (as a person or business) has on the environment; specifically: the amount of carbon emitted by something during a given period.” That term dates back to 1999.

Environmental Penance Kiosk

Now with ten years of consumer guilt and the perceived corpulent western lifestyle under our belt we arrive at carbon offset credits. Carbon offset’s are defined as “… credits for an amount of carbon dioxide-equivalent (COse) reduced, avoided or absorbed. Many types of credits are available, produced by several schemes or mechanisms and with a series of sometimes overlapping standards.”

We’re all about reducing, reusing and recycling but carbon offset credits sound more like an environmental penance for all of your past earth-bashing sins. Jubbling is about making smarter personal choices and changes that work for you. It’s not about paying a broad ransom, of sorts, to some faceless entity and then going about your business as usual. It’s also not about guilt for living your daily life.

Can you really take carbon credits seriously when the company Bombardier Learjet has a carbon offset program? Should you be riddled with guilt if you owned a 1970s muscle car from Detroit? We argue that the car is less of a black eye to Mother Nature versus a private jet.

Carbon credits are being sold on an idea that says we can essentially pay off our poor environmental habits or abuses while still continuing along without sacrifice or concern. This hypocrisy is making nations and individuals wealthy while the real problems are ignored.