The shorter answer is that radiative forcing is the change in the energy balance in the blower/b atmosphere by a climate change mechanism. jet contrails photo photo: Shane Halloran via flickr. Flying Has More Impact Than Just Carbon Emissions b..../b Joel bHawthwaite/b says: Exactly what happens to the ballooning number of dollars that airline customers pay to "Entity X" for an individual's carbon offset for a given flight? How does my paying a higher price for an airline ticket ...