Hot Earth Part 3

Coming soon to an online auction near you - Reformation-era indulgences:

How could Renaissance popes, cardinals, and princes poison their rivals, launch wars against their fellow Christians, auction off church offices, and commit other misdeeds too loathsome to mention, without fear of spending eternity in Hell? As everyone familiar with Reformation history knows, they bought indulgences - church-sanctioned pardons for sins past, present, and yet to come. So, if you're a fabulously rich celebrity and you fret about leaving a nasty "carbon footprint" on the breast of Mother Earth, you simply buy some carbon credits and then jet off to the next awards ceremony. And just to add piquancy to the jest, the man whose corporation sells you the carbon credits is... Al Gore!

Like all luxuires, carbon credits will be the conspicuous consumption of the hopelessly conspicuios at first but, like all hollow vice, will trickle down to the little people someday.