I’ve gotten some emails, a couple quite heated, about my — admittedly somewhat cliched — line about carbon offsets being the equivalent of purchasing indulgences. A few have even called me an ignorant and anti-Catholic bigot (which would shock my Catholic relatives and co-workers somewhat). The gist of the protest seems to be that the official policy of the Church is that you cannot buy indulgences and that the sale of them is not sanctioned by the Church. To which I respond, Okay, therefore….what? I don’t really see how that contradicts what I wrote. I think most fair-minded readers understand that I was talking about the motives of the purchaser more than anyone else. Normally, I would say I’m sorry if I unintentionally gave offense. But some of these emails strike me as coming from people who are intentionally taking offense in order to be righteous pedants (great name for a band). So, to the sincerely offended, my apologies. To the others, go suck eggs. You all know who you are.