Pass the buck

Environment | Carbon offsets allow environmentalists to preach green but pay someone else to live it | Mark Bergin

Jill Cody points to her TerraPass sticker in San Jose, Calif.

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio and politician Al Gore took center stage at Hollywood's Kodak Theater earlier this year to announce that the 79th annual Academy Awards had officially "gone green."

More accurately, the show paid others to go green, so it wouldn't have to.

Between the telecast, the Governor's Ball, and the red carpet event, the Oscars released some 250,000 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, equivalent to the energy emissions required to power 16 average U.S. homes for an entire year.

But thanks to the purchase of 250,000 pounds worth of carbon offsets from the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, the socially conscious stars in attendance could enjoy the extravagant production guilt free. To further ease the consciences of event participants, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences purchased 100,000 pounds of carbon credits for each performer and presenter, an amount estimated to offset the annual emissions of an average celebrity lifestyle.