Are companies who sell carbon offsets pushing the global warming theory purely for profit?

Yes. Some peoples incomes depend on AGW and they will tend to overstate the significance of AGW (as is human nature).

Some people seem to have the idea that oil companies are evil, but without them how would anyone get around? Advocating one's own cause (whether by the oil companies or the carbon trading companies) is not some evil deception, it's how society works.

No, only oil companies can do that. The people selling offsets are all just very nice people that care about the future. That is how naive the Global Warming Doomsday Cultist are becoming.

The biggest profiteers are the scientists that take some of the over 5 billion spent annually if they can include something negative involving global warming. If it isn't a crisis, they don't get paid and their new pool doesn't get built.

In a word maybe..

A company can not sell carbon offsets UNLESS they have the carbon offsets to sell. Carbon offsets cost money to develop (because to be valid they should be certified by a third party) and that money would not be invested unless there was a market.. So some companies may be pushing it for a profit.. but in the long run it does help reduce carbon emissions globally.

Now if the rich decide to buy carbon offsets to sooth their guilty consciences.. so be it.. However, I will always criticize them for not reducing their emissions themselves.

To me.. Carbon offsets should only be bought by other companies that cannot reduce their emissions on a temporary basis to meet some government regulation.

Yep! it's a shell game based on guilt [the emotion] the only winners in this latest version of three card monte are the carbon credit con-artists.

Pssst, there's a rumour goin round that the latest Nobel Prize will be awarded to a bloke with a hypothesis of the chaos created "if" Martians attack. Any takers for Martiam invasion insurance?

I don't think most people understand the basic principle behind carbon credits. The way I understand it, every business will get a certain number of credits based on which industry they are in and how big they are, and they can either use these credits, sell them if they don't need them all, or buy more from other companies who don't need theirs. Now based on how much carbon your company produces in every day operations, this equates to how many credits you use. If you have some left over, that's great, because it means you didn't pollute very much. If you need to buy more credits to cover your polluting, then this extra expense will encourage you to clean up your act. It gives companies an economic incentive to go green, which is a good thing!

I don't know if individuals will be able to purchase carbon credits to invest in, but if we could, what is so wrong with that? It's called free market capitalism, and it's what this country was built on!

Carbon offsets are crap! you are either doing your part to conserve or you are not. The carbon offsets are a feel good propaganda so silly people can think they are doing something to "save the planet". It is all tom foolery and hog wash!

I don't see how. Which companies are you refering to? How are you claiming that they are "pushing" global warming theory?

If President Bush and his administration which funds federal research can't control NOAA or NASA to dilute the clear scientific evidence, how would these imaginary evil carbon trading forces contribute to the science to promote their viewpoint?

Why would they need to do any promotion when the oil-friendly Bush administration is producing all the documentation and momentum needed to make carbon trading a good market?

I enjoy a good conspiracy theory, and I do have concern that carbon trading may be laced with fraud in many cases, but the carbon trading market is relatively small, puny in comparison to ExxonMobil's $39B in profits (no to mention the rest of the oil industry, plus the coal industry, plus the auto industry who all gain from promoting skepticism and delaying action).

The logging industry may seek and receive funding for reforestation efforts as a "global warming offset" move, but reforestation should be happening anyway to keep that resource available. Any funding they might be providing to push for carbon credits must be tiny in comparison to the other special interests involved, and it's not like the Bush administration is riddled with former lumberjacks, who are going to be sympathetic to their cause.

Carbon offsets are just a way for the elite to continue living their wasteful lifestyle guilt free. It is ignorant.

No, the main driver behind entities that are pushing the AGW theory is power, money is secondary.

Probably some of them. But that doesn't mean global warming is false. Just like the existence of snake oil salesmen who push all kinds of ailments and cures, doesn't mean no body is sick.