Carbon Offsets

Carbon Offsets are essentially eco-friendly services you can buy from various companies to offset the amount of greenhouse gases and other environmentally unfriendly waste you produce each year. Most, if not all, of these qualify as charitable contributions that you can deduct from your taxes.

I'd like to start buying offsets this year, but I have a few concerns:

-Am I getting ripped off? How transparent can any company actually be about how much they are doing based on your contribution. I guess all those rip-off charities have made a bad name for the good ones, but one cannot help but wonder.

-Is it going to be an excuse for me to not do more on my end to consume less energy? This is a valid concern because, while it is nice to be able to pay someone to take the CO2 I produce out of the air, maybe if I am producing so much I should suffer the consequences and just turn on the AC less. I'm not one of those people, though, who thinks we should abandon capitalism and live off the grid. A little smart capitalism like carbon offsets is better than no offsets at all, right? And it isn't as if I can go out and build a wind turbine or plant a grove of trees all by myself.

-What unintended environmental consequences may result from offsets? Anyone who has done any research on renewable energy development knows the politics and controversy surrounding the efficacy of these methods.

Do any of you buy carbon offsets? If so, what companies or organizations do you use and why?