Whats in YOUR Carbon Footprint...

[Yael]

With apologies to David Spade, Capital One & Co.....

I was raised with "reduce, reuse, recycle", so I may have an innate sense of waste that others may not -- but am lost as to carbon footprints. As a grad student on hiatus for the summer, I decided to get serious about the environment. I hesitated joining here for fear that it would become a sink hole of time when I can't afford it, so please indulge me while my adult-ADD is on the topic and I have time to be here!

Question is this: Other than the obvious (electricity, auto gas and non-recyclables such as twinkies and styrofoam) what all makes up a "carbon footprint"?

Can some dear DUer please give me a partial list or send me to a website that lists this out clearly (bullets, not narrative)?

Thanks in advance!

[wuushew]

1. did you try google?

http://www.carbonfootprint.com/USA/calculator.html

[Yael]

7. Of course, and had lots of returns -- I was hoping for recommendations

Thanks for the link! :hi:

[rosesaylavee]

2. Here's a couple of places to start...

http://www.climateprotect.org/ is sponsored by the Alliance for Climate Crisis and is a good source for many things from helpful tips on reducing energy consumption in your home and workplace to helping to communicate the issue to interested others.

And to find out more directly what your own carbon footprint is: http://www.carbonfootprint.com/ (catchy name - that :))

[Yael]

8. Thank you!!

[Gregorian]

3. In a modern society, just about everything.

If you had a river, and either used a photovoltaic array to power a pump, or just scooped up the water by hand to water grapes, those grapes would be free of any carbon footprint. But, if you buy them at the store, chances are you drove; and those grapes were transported; and they were fertilized; and the people who picked them drove to their job... That has a carbon footprint.

If you flush your toilet, the water pressure is maintained at your house by a pump at a facility run by your city. They have huge diesel engines that run an air compressor that keeps the water at a constant pressure. Even flushing has a carbon footprint.

I can't think of anything that doesn't have a carbon footprint.

As a result of this, I haven't done a shitload of stuff over the last thirty years. People wonder about me. Boy would I like to visit forum friends who live in London. But...


Edit- I left the S off of chances. Oops. This typing even has a carbon footprint.

Hey, we're alive. Let's live.

To be honest, it's a bigger picture than carbon footprints. You see, we cannot help but affect the planet. In small numbers our impact is absorbed by earth. But in the numbers we have created, our impacts just cannot be handled by earth. We can change how we live, but we'll still have problems with water, lumber, food... It's really a population issue. But it's going to take a while before people are willing to hear that.

[Yael]

9. Good comments. I agree -- why I never got involved before as

so much is out of our control. Now -- just wanting to understand.

Thanks for your post. People wonder about me too, but not as much as I wonder about them. Heh.

:hi:

[rosesaylavee]

4. And P.S.

this is a sinkhole of time! However, I find it useful to read ideas/news items here I don't see elsewhere on the web. You may want to explore the environmental forum as well.

Welcome to DU!

[Yael]

10. Thank you -- for the welcome AND the warning.

LOL!

[Champion Jack]

5. My carbon footprint is

a 13 B

[HysteryDiagnosis]

6. There were many in Fallujah who had between a 5 and 6 foot

carbon footprint... but that's old news.