The bottom line is that carbon offsets allow us to forget about our consumptionism in general. (“Consumerism” implies that the individual is the focus; consumptionism is a system). ALL consumptionism is problematic (buying resources of any kind instead of doing or creating something yourself). This is why all taxes and costs should be at the point of sale: so that consumers can make informed decisions about buying or making or doing without. Is it unfair to poor people? Sure, but the rich get richer because we work for them to buy their stuff.