On-line calculators are available to help you calculate your carbon footprint, but the true answer is more complex. EcoCivilization.Info says 3 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per person per year is what is sustainable.
Jim Kuellmer, at the January BPEG meeting, walked us through a practical exercise to find out our particular carbon footprint. Using an on-line calculator, Jim entered data for determining his Household Footprint. It shows 2.2 metric tons. Jim lives in an off-grid house so is using less fossil fuels than most of us. His 2ltr car driving 25,000 km/year contributes about 6 tons CO2/yr, bringing him way over the 3 tons for sustainable living.
Check
out your total carbon footprint using:
https://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx
What is your total? What can you do immediately to reduce it? Can you drive less, carpool, eat less meat, buy local, turn down thermostats to your lower level of comfort, the list goes on; but the big one, LESS WASTE. Waste consisting of fuel, electricity, food etc can be anywhere from 30 to 70 % of the carbon emissions.
Jim explained about secondary emissions using the example, coming to this meeting: driving the car, but what about the road to get you here, the meeting hall, the fuel required to heat the room.
Another example, every consumer item has a carbon footprint. We buy a consumer item from China, so we are also responsible for its carbon footprint there.
A large sector of secondary emissions is infrastructure, roads, bridges, ferries, government buildings, libraries, military installations and activity, etc. The accepted approximation for these is to take your personal footprint and multiply by 1.5. and add it to you personal direct figure. For example if your footprint comes out to 6 tons per year, you would add 9 ton/yr for a total of 15.
These are the many complexities when calculating your personal carbon footprint.
Additionally, there is still the problem of the existing overload of CO2 already in the atmosphere.
Jim shared some surprising findings from his research: commercial aviation contributes 7% to the total transportation emissions. A passenger car contributes 41% of transportation emissions. Plastics are double that for aviation. Farming and processing supplies 83% of the CO2 from food.
An extensive list of recommendations, such as reduced food waste, composting, and sustainable and regenerative agriculture practices, have been identified by Project Drawdown
(https://www.drawdown.org/), these steps if taken will provide an enormous payback economically, while reducing emissions and sequestering carbon.
Jim ended the presentation by showing a video featuring Climate Scientist Katherine Hayoe, “The bottom line is this: climate change is affecting you and me right here, right now, in the places where we live. But by working together, we can fix it. Sure, it’s a daunting problem… . But we can’t give in to despair. We have to go out and actively look for the hope that we need, that will inspire us to act.”
