Your Carbon Diet
Illo by Robert Neubecker/Slate
Here at Casa del Gattino Diablo1, we’re ever-vigilant of ways we can further decrease our collective environmental footprint. Still, I feel we need to take stock of where we are now and then, because, as anyone familiar with dieting can tell you, it’s all too easy to slip up when we’re not paying attention. (Cake is the enemy of my thighs … cake is the enemy of my thighs … )
Here to help: Slate and Treehugger have joined forces to create an eight-week green challenge to “evaluate and reduce your carbon emissions between now and the end of the year.” Their reasons are compelling:
The average temperature of the Earth’s surface has risen about 1 degree Fahrenheit over the past hundred years, and overwhelming evidence suggests that most of the increase is due to greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide released by humans. Though a 1-degree increase might not seem like much, even a small rise in global temperature significantly changes the climate, potentially resulting in major storms and droughts, disruption of the food supply, and the catastrophic spread of disease.
Human carbon-dioxide emissions come mainly from two sources: burning fossil fuels and changes in land use, such as deforestation. Americans are the climate’s worst enemy. On average, each of us is responsible for about 22 tons of carbon-dioxide emissions every year, according to the United Nations, compared with an average of six tons per person throughout the rest of the world. That means the typical U.S citizen emits the equivalent of four cars.
(Emphases are mine.)
For the next eight weeks, we’re invited to consider our own individual contribution to global warming—and tighten our belts in terms of our carbon consumption. Our dieting goal is to reduce the amount of CO2 we release into the atmosphere by 20 percent, which is an attainable number for most of us, whether we’re “carbon glutton[s]” who leave the lights on when they’re not needed, or “svelte recycler[s] or carpooler[s]” who can trim our waists further.
Take a short quiz that will serve as your weigh-in, and then keep track of the carbon pounds you lose each week with the help of reminders and tips from the program. Every week between now and Dec. 11, you’ll be asked to assess your consumption on subjects such as transportation, food, clothing, electricity, and that mother of them all, holiday shopping.
The result should be reward enough, but as an extra bonus, if you’re successful in dropping the full 20 percent, you’ll be eligible for a Green Challenge T-shirt, which the first 500 folks to complete the challenge will receive.
According to the initial quiz, my annual carbon emissions are 27,369 lbs, which is equivalent to the emissions from 2.69 passenger cars2. No cracks about spare tires, please. I’m in. Are you?
Update: Yeah, I agree that the questions in the quizzes need to be more comprehensive—I have neither a car nor a dishwasher, for instance. And we use a portable electric heater when it gets below freezing.
1 House of the Devil Kitten
2 Our annual flight to Singapore to visit my parents is likely to blame.
Related resource:
1. What’s My Environmental Footprint?
Katherine said,
October 24, 2006 at 5:01 pm
I guess I should probably address this to the challenge sponsors instead, but I wish perhaps that there were more college student friendly pieces of advice?
azgoddess said,
October 24, 2006 at 5:19 pm
i was disappointed that they assumed we were driving vehicles that were gass powered…my car runs on soy beans - bio-diesel…no place in the quiz asks me about this…
i think it needs more questions..
This Single Spark said,
October 24, 2006 at 6:05 pm
… or that everyone owns a car, period.
Now I do in fact own a car, but it is snugly tucked into the garage with VOID on the license plate. In other words, I can pledge to keep my tires inflated all I want, but it doesn’t make a lick of difference to the amount of carbon I’m producing.
They also assume everyone has a dishwasher. Honey, you’re lookin’ at it.
aleta said,
October 25, 2006 at 12:38 am
indeed, i found the quiz didn’t have enough options to portray my energy use accurately, either. no dishwasher, no a/c, no heater. i would love to do something like this, but i want the numbers to be accurate, and i know most of the advice anyway. still, it inspired me to actually look into taking the bus for my twice-a-week commute.
Brianne said,
October 25, 2006 at 5:22 am
Holy Crapoly, my emissions are 10,903, even though I lied about the dishwasher. I’m sort of impressed. I’m still taking the challenge though, there’s always way more to do. Thanks for showing it to me.
Heidi said,
October 26, 2006 at 2:35 pm
Well the numbers would appear to be off to readers here, who already probably make a difference in their day to day consumption. My husband and I are extremely unusual here in So. Cal. where we are carless in the land of I-love-my-car! I’d like to take this challenge, too.
This might also be an appropriate post to link to a new favorite vendor. I’m due in January, so I’m hunting for cloth diapering resources and discovered Firefly Diapers. Not only are their products sustainable (and relatively reasonably priced, considering) but their business philosophy and mission had me at “Hello”. I’ve been spending too much company time reading through her archives. Anyway, enough rambling! Here’s the company link: http://www.fireflydiapers.com/ and the blog: http://www.fireflydiapers.com/blog/ I thought it might make a great addition to your Sustainable Goods list.
The Worsted Witch » This is the Cold That Never Ends said,
February 2, 2007 at 11:02 am
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