What happened to “Leave Only Footprints”?
UPDATE (Jan. 21): My timing was impeccable on this post, as “footprints” are really in the news right now. Just yesterday, this story (link) came out about Prince Charles, who cancelled a vacation after criticism, and who will publish his annual carbon footprint along with his usual “annual report”. I’m 99.44% sure he leaves “bigger footprints” than most of us — then again, you know what they say about guys with big ears…
I decided to check out what my carbon footprint was — that is, my annual greenhouse gas impact on our planet (not taking into account consumption of beans). A rough estimate, from this Canadian calculator, was just over 12 tonnes. I’m below the American average of 20 tonnes per person (!), but more or less at the Canadian average. Which is really not great… It helps that I have no car and have a small, inexpensive place to live. On the other hand, all my air travel is bad (more than half of my footprint is from that) and so is the fact that I’m living alone, so not dividing up the household impact over several people.
Oops, I had a fire in my fireplace tonight, so that probably wasn’t the best idea either…especially since I did it for sheer pleasure.
I tried another calculator (British), and it gave me almost 14 tonnes…mostly because it uses “average British” consumption rates for the “secondary impact”. (believe me, I’m not your “average British”! ;-)
Yet another calculator (this one from BP) gave me a lower reading, of about 7 tonnes. (hmm, that last sentence almost reads like a joke — punchline: “Really? A giant oil company said the greenhouse gas problem wasn’t as bad as you thought?”) This one does not seem to include things like food and public services and such. But you do need to factor in the fact that, for example, lots of the food we eat comes from far away, thus needing “costly” transport. That banana I ate for dessert didn’t come from “La Vergerie de l’Estrie”, that’s for sure…
Anyhow, it’s all very interesting (and, of course, bleak and a tad depressing). The Zerofootprint folks allow you (individuals and companies) to purchase “carbon credits” to offset your impact on the world…I know, this sounds like a scam, but I looked into it and it seems they are a pretty reputable bunch.
Meanwhile, it seems Canadians’ per capita greenhouse emissions may skyrocket (”by proxy”), especially if there is indeed a rapid fivefold expansion in Alberta oil sands production…you know, to help out our poor thirsty friends to the south… Good grief. C’mon people — remind me which part of “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” is spelled “Produce More”?