Dropped $340 on a "carbon offset" program that planted trees I can't verify exist
I mean, I wanted to do something real for the climate so I signed up for one of those monthly offset plans back in January. It was $28 a month and they promised 12 trees planted per month in Kenya or something, with a certificate and GPS coordinates. Six months later I've paid about $170 and the "tracking portal" just shows a stock photo of a nursery and a map dot that doesn't move. I emailed twice and got a form reply saying projects take time to show up. Has anyone found an offset program where you can actually see where your money goes, or is this just how all of them work?
Man, that really stings and I feel for you. I did a similar thing two years back, $15 a month to some group that said they'd protect an acre of rainforest in Brazil, and after a year all I got was a generic PDF with my name on it and a photo I'm pretty sure I've seen on other sites. The part that gets me is the GPS coordinates thing, because if they gave you real ones you could just drop them into Google Earth and see if trees are actually there. Six months and a dot that never moves tells you plenty, and that form reply about projects taking time is just a way to keep the charges going.