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February 02, 2007
My carbon emissions
I visited the Climate Trust and found out that my family and I spew 26.46 tons of carbon dioxide into the environment each year:
And look where it's all coming from: air travel! I've been hearing that air travel is a major contributor to global warming, but I'm still surprised by how much it dominates these numbers. Now for the painful part: how much will it cost me to mitigate all these tons of carbon:
$26 each month?! Pshaw! Yes, this is a significant amount of money but, no, it isn't as much as I spend on hosting costs for this web site. And it isn't nearly as much as I spend on various wasteful personal luxuries, from $2 scones to $9.99 albums at iTunes to $5 packages of seeds to...
I'm supposed to get a certificate in the mail, which I will post here proudly. You, too, can do this. It isn't expensive and it isn't difficult. Get started at CarbonCounter.org, which is a web site for individuals run by the Climate Trust. The difficult part is the larger battle: using less energy. I'll work on that one tomorrow.
February 2, 2007 in Climate | Permalink
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Comments
We should all do as much good as we can for the enviroment!
Posted by: joy | Aug 19, 2007 9:10:20 PM
We all need to be green:)
Posted by: Laura | Aug 31, 2007 9:23:22 PM
I just love reading about the different trees in the San Fran area. I visited last year and it was awesome, since i'm from the Chicago area. Very different!
Posted by: Christina Osmolak | Feb 12, 2008 11:34:18 AM
being in green is so in for 2009. i recycle now !
Posted by: Rohan | Mar 7, 2009 3:17:10 AM
thank you for doing your part in helping our environment!
Posted by: Melissa | Mar 8, 2009 11:16:48 AM
I've cut back so much over the years there isn't much left for me to do.
A big reason for the low cooling bills is my big trees. While I consider them things of beauty, they shade my house and make it so much cooler. While others have $200 summer electricity bills, we sail along with bills as high as $40. In the winter one side has dormant trees allowing full sunshine while the other side protects us from the high winds. Don't know what I'd do without my trees.
Posted by: Elizabeth Solis | Mar 8, 2009 11:47:13 AM
How do they determine the $12 per ton of CO2 rate?
Posted by: TO | Mar 8, 2009 12:16:00 PM
i think this year is going to be a wonderful spring and summer with the nicest weather and fresh air and seeing kids playing the the front yards !!
Posted by: Ella Christine | Mar 8, 2009 3:17:23 PM
People should do more than pay others to offset their emissions. Americans are some of the most wasteful, polluting people on the planet and should take major efforts on cutting back.
Based on the estimate from this site, my family of four emits less than 6 metric tons a year. This does not take into account our recycling efforts or our gardening practices.
Posted by: Kris | Mar 8, 2009 4:43:54 PM
helping the environment is great.
Posted by: steve | Mar 9, 2009 1:40:42 AM
The very best way to save the environment is to go Vegetarian! Do the research on how much we feed cattle that we could be feeding to people. And how cattle waste creates gasses which pollute terribly.
Posted by: Carol | Mar 9, 2009 7:02:53 AM
If everyone would just take the time to recycle the things that should be recycled instead of disposing improperly it would help tremendously. Same with how lazy we have all become with driving our cars everywhere even to the store around the corner...Walk it jeeze not like most of us don't need a little exercise.
Posted by: stacie | Mar 9, 2009 12:32:29 PM
I try to be green....but our carbon footprint will still be huge....
Posted by: Tara | Mar 9, 2009 7:05:07 PM
this site is very thoughor an informative. thanks for all you do for our environment an passing along this info!!
Posted by: sissym | Mar 13, 2009 6:40:43 PM
Thank you very much for the giant seqouia seeds. I will plant them in the Eastern Sierras.
Posted by: Steven | Mar 15, 2009 11:28:01 PM
I'm going to have to look into this!
Posted by: Sylvia Holder | Mar 23, 2009 10:00:38 AM
Thanks so much for this blog posting. I recently found out my carbon footprint and it freaked me out. I also realized it had to do with air travel. I live in California and my parents in Michigan so I fly to see them a few times a year. I've thought of other means of travel such as weekend trips I've taken to Vegas or Arizona and am thinking about taking Amtrak or the train. Thanks again and thanks for sharing the link!
Posted by: Alicia Yang | Mar 23, 2009 2:35:23 PM
We are planning a girl scout encampment where we will be learning how to go green!
Posted by: Donna | Apr 28, 2009 7:24:42 AM
Go Green!
Posted by: Bev | Apr 28, 2009 11:57:59 AM
We need to start riding bikes!
Posted by: Anthony | May 3, 2009 1:39:48 PM
everyone (especially americans) needs to understand their own carbon footprint on the planet. We cannot change our habbits until we have the knowledge we are causing harm.
every action we make has an equal and sometimes oppisite reaction in the world
Posted by: tasha | Jun 1, 2009 8:41:59 PM
I hope this doesn't become another Fad and ebb with time. With the human population exploding our future generations are going to need all the resources we can leave them before they are all exhausted.
Posted by: roger | Jun 24, 2009 1:07:25 PM
I did carbon footprinting for several small municipalities in my area. You think its shocking how much you use, imagine what a municipality puts out in a year. The municipality is a fairly useless government unit. Even if they want to do go, they are restricted by the fact that they often don't have input in sources of energy used to produce electricity, and they have little power to push businesses and residential homes to choose environmental technology.
Posted by: Zahava Cheropovich | Jun 28, 2009 10:53:31 AM
This is great! My BF loves watching shows on the Green channel about reducing carbon footprints but we don't really do a whole lot *I mean, from the usual...recycling, composting...etc*. This should help a lot! Thanks!
Posted by: Devi | Jul 13, 2009 1:34:11 PM
want to help the environment
Posted by: bambi ragusa | Nov 2, 2009 12:59:53 PM
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