My Carbon Footprint

[whiskeygoat]

The bad news: I'm guilty.
According to this basic carbon emissions calculator, I'm even worse than the average american, and generating 28 tons of CO2 a year. In contrast, a middle-class Indian family that was interviewed on NPR last night generated 3.5 tons in a year. A whole family

Comments

[imli5533]

you should use wind power! then your electricity doesn't count. i get 15 tons and i think that's a bit high. will switching to biofuels instead of heating oil help me? i dunno, i think whenever you burn anything you release CO2... i want to plant the trees myself!!!

[goodguyseatpie]

I pay a couple cents more per kWh so that all my electricity comes from wind. I also don't drive, so that helps.

The plane thing is inevitable. My flying is one of the only things keeping me from being carbon neutral (that, and living in a building that I have no control over, heatwise). :-(

I've been thinking about the tree planting thing too. Like you, I'm not convinced that they do help in the end. Because trees are merely a temporary carbon sink. They absorb, and when they wilt, they release the carbon back again. The Ocean, now there's a more permanent carbon sink, but it takes in carbon at a much slower rate. Too slow for us.

I think planting trees might just be a rational excuse not to make other serious lifestyle changes, like rethinking the way we drive and get our electricity. Liberal slacktivism: attempting to make a difference with as little effort as possible.