!!VENT ALERT!! -- CARBON OFFSETS -- !!VENT ALERT!!

http://www.carbonfund.org/site/pages/how_it_works/

So ... if I'm understanding this correctly, Carbon Offsets lets you figure out how much carbon you're emitting, then you can take this number and offset the damage by making a donation (through a carbon offset agency like this one, for a small percentage) to an environmental agency - renewable resouces, reforestation, etc. - to absolve you of any ecological or environmental wrong-doing? Wouldn't it make more sense (not to mention do more good) to just make the donation to whatever environmental agency you support and then cut back - even just a little - on your emmissions? It's not that hard to do really - turn your thermostat down just 1 or 2 degrees, recycle your pop cans and paper and milk jugs, run all your errands in one trip, fly commercial, yadda yadda. You know ... "Leave your campground cleaner than you found it." Little things add up.
This whole Carbon Offsets thing sounds no different to me than paying somebody else to play a little extra with their kids so you can ignore yours, or making a donation to a domestic violence shelter so you smack your spouse if you're having a bad day, or giving a speech taking a stand against sex crimes to absolve yourself from not taking "NO" for an answer on last Saturday's date. It's just icky & wrong.
How are people seeing this as a good thing? Paying the priest has never absolved the sin.