Santa Monica Airport Softens the Impact of Travel; Offers On-line Carbon Offset Service

July 28, 2008

Contact:
Rod Merl, Senior Admin. Analyst, Santa Monica Airport
rod.merl@smgov.net or 310-458-8706

Santa Monica Airport Softens the Impact of Travel; Offers On-line Carbon Offset Service

It’s clear that planes, trains and automobiles are some of the best ways to get around, but they also create greenhouse gas emissions . How does the environmentally conscious traveler reconcile these two things? One approach is to offer travelers the opportunity to purchase carbon offsets, a process of investing monies in activities that would remove the equivalent carbon emissions from a scheduled trip by planting trees, installing solar panels, or other comparable measures. It is a burgeoning market-based solution that has received a lot of attention lately. Santa Monica Airport officials believe they may be the first, of any airport their size, to offer this new option opportunity on their website.
 
While local airports and jurisdictions cannot set emission standards for the aircraft using them (that is done exclusively by the Federal Aviation Administration in concert with the US Environmental Protection Agency), they can seek to provide awareness of, and options for, the people flying to and from the Airport to address some of the environmental impacts of their flights. Some airlines and commercial Airports have begun providing a carbon offset option but Santa Monica Airport appears to be the first general aviation airport to provide a ready link to such opportunities.

The calculator will provide a measure of the carbon produced by specific flight distances, the number of passengers to be included and if it’s one way or round trip. The offset purchases go to non-profit organizations involved in reforestation and alternative energy projects. The cost of the offsets are actually quite modest (e.g., for two persons flying round trip to San Francisco it would be about $5.27 total but potentially can have great impact in terms of awareness, in investment solutions, and in individual responsibility.
Please visit the Santa Monica Airport’s carbon offset page, reachable from anywhere in the at www.smgov.net/airport/ to calculate and purchase offsets for flights and for other transportation activities, such as driving. This program is part of a citywide effort to enhance awareness and provide opportunities for individual action in addressing environmental issues.

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This page was last updated on 07/28/08.