The airlines care so much about the environment that they are willing to let me pay for it

I don’t know about other travelers, but I actually like to read the propaganda that the airlines provide … they actually have interesting articles.  A couple of days ago, I was flying home on Continental Airlines.  Their magazine had an interesting article about the environment and how much they care.  They care so much that they are going to support me in contributing to Sustainable Travel International (STI), a non profit organization that support ecotourism.  I support the aim of ecotourism and protecting the environment, my beef with Continental is “having their cake while eating it too.”  What I mean by “having their cake while eating it too” is that Continental gets to call themselves eco-friendly, because they let me spend my money to buy back the cost of emission based on my travel output.  In general, I support the concept of me as an individual paying for my impact on the environment, but I think if Continental wants to be an environmental airlines there are many other things that they can do.  For example,

• cleaner burning fuel
• more efficient burning fuel
• more efficient airplanes
• smaller airport footprints
• better recycling in terms of food and beverage service
• and more …