Current event: week 3

There was an article in the Washington Post last week titled "There’s a Gold Mine in Environmental Guilt". The article was about the environment and the economy. While the economy continues its downward trend, Carbon-Offset Sales have remained steady, and, in some cases, have continued to grow. The upper-middle class is the largest group of people who buy these carbon-offset deals. One of the concerns of the article was that this group of people has “not been hit hard by the weakening economy. Yet.” When this group does feel the economic pain, speculators wonder if the guilt boom will cease to be a factor in these purchases.
I can understand a person wanting to help the environment, most people do. I can even understand how some people would not want to have their dirty carbon trail behind them for the world to see. What I don’t get is why people are still paying for this type of luxury when there are other more important things to pay for, like food, gas, and a home. Even if the upper-middle class has not been greatly affected by the economic problems the rest of America is going through, one would think that they would cut off the some of the not-so-necessary commodities that they may have grown accustom to. I think that it will be exciting to see where this guilt buying leads to in the near future.