Please excuse the mutiliation of the quote - it makes sense later on. As my long-time readers are probably aware, this weblog is being hosted on Dreamhost machines. Despite an inordinate amount of negative reviews, complaints about downtime, and gripes…

http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/factors.html

That’s ~100 gallons per ton CO2. When it costs about $300+ to purchase and emit that ton, how can it possibly cost only $5 to $30 to “offset” that ton?! Oh, hey, I’m going to drive 3000 miles for vacation next week, unless somebody pays me $30 not to; cool, instant offset! That’s how. Guess what - no real reduction.

I have to say, I’m astonished at the amount of crap you’re having to put up with over this decision, though. I didn’t take the time to comment when I first saw this post, because I thought anything I could post would just get lost in a sea of thank-yous. Had I realized that the last remaining neanderthals of the world were all going to converge on your blog with all their “OMG GLOBAL WARMING IS A HIPPIE CONSPIRACY!!1!” nonsense, I’d have posted something sooner.

On the bright side, at least that sort of silliness seems to be largely restricted to the US these days, like creationism and other charming American quirks. The rest of the world, from what I can see, is pretty well aware of the scientific consensus on the subject.

I wonder how many of the negative posters even host with you? I notice most of them opted to post anonymously. I’m guessing someone posted a link to this entry on some kind of anti-environmental forum so that they could all pile in and spam you en masse.