Dubai Airport Greenwash

This is a diptych of an electronic panel in Dubai Airport spotted in transit on the way to Rome.  How amazing to brag about using a solar panel to power an advertising screen when those viewing it, like my wife Fiona and me, have just traveled 1000s of Km flying courtesy of high-energy jet fuel. The carbon emissions of international air travel are not accounted for by the individual countries from which tourist leave, nor where they land.  So basically, international air travel and the tourism industry is getting a free pass as far as accountability for their contribution to climate change. 
We ticked the donation box for carbon offsetting when we bought our tickets, but frankly, the sum donated cannot possibly fully compensate for the real cost of carbon offsetting, nor the full social, economic and ecological costs of climate change caused by flying.  But here’s the dilemma ... we desperately wanted to be with our son Soren, his wife Demelza, and Tobia, our first grandson who now live half a planet away from our home in New Zealand. Sustainability choices and compromises are sometimes hard and personal and family needs and love will come first.
The irony of this airport sign’s message, and many like it, worked in exactly the opposite way that the advertisers’ spin doctors intend.  "Greenwash"  focuses us on how to really compensate for our actions, rather than buying their goods or services. Most advertising work, like that of JCDecaux promoted in the sign, are dedicated to promoting sales and consumption, not reducing demand to help sustainability.