The Real Costs

The Real Costs consists of an open-source Firefox web browser plug-in that inserts CO2 emissions data into airplane travel e-commerce websites such as Orbitz.com, United.com, Delta.com, and so on. Like the nutritional information labeling included on food packaging, this plug-in provides emissions information that is otherwise excluded from travel websites.[1] Instead of a search for travel returning the cost in dollars, The Real Costs informs travellers of the cost of their journey in carbon emisssions and the number of tree-years required to offset it, along with comparative carbon footprint information for other forms of travel. Another graph shows per-capita carbon output by country, with the US off the chart.