Week 11, Carbon Offsets

All this talk about carbon offsets seems like a way of not dealing with the problem that is staring us in the face: carbon emissions. I really don't know how any of these carbon offsets work or what exactly they are doing. Although they seem to come from a place of good intention, it does raise the question of why not look more intensely for alternative fuels instead of simply offsetting the one fuel we have right now. If carbon offsets are buying us time to come up with a better solution, that is great. But are we offsetting our carbon a acting like we've solved the problem?