I am not a big one for New Year’s resolutions. This year, however, I have decided to make one. I intend to spend at least an hour a week trying to do something about climate change. Climate change probably presents humanity with an existential crisis. I suspect that part of my efforts will be split between advocacy and organizing, research and personal transformation. Climate change is a collective problem without individual solutions. That is to say, I, by myself almost certainly can’t do anything about it. Addressing it will require change on the scale of the whole species. However, that isn’t an excuse for inaction. Most problems are social in nature. Their solutions usually begin with individuals. And while I have no illusion that my efforts will contribute significantly to addressing climate change I would like to at least make a minimal effort towards being part of the solution.
As a starting point for reflections on personal transformation I thought I would try to figure out my carbon footprint for 2013. A pretty through carbon calculator can be found here. According to it my total carbon footprint for 2013 was 13.80 metric tons of carbon (mtc). That places me below the U.S. average, which is 20.4 mtc, and way above the global target for combating climate change, 2 mtc.
My calculation is based on the following information:
I live in Massachusetts and my household (family) has four people. We own one car, a 2007 Honda Civic Hybrid, and I generally bike or take public transit to school. As a household we used 1666 therms of gas and 6239 kWh in electricity. That equals 12.6 mtc for the household or 3.15 mtc per person. I took the following flights in 2013: Boston to Phoenix (1.36 mtc); Boston to Los Angeles (1.39 mtc); Boston to Madrid (1.81 mtc); Boston to Louisville, KY (.49 mtc); Louisville, KY to Minneapolis, MN (.36 mtc); Boston to Lansing, MI (0.41 mtc); Boston to Washington, DC (.12 mtc); and Boston to Detroit, MI (.37 mtc). That equals a total of 6.31 mtc. Our family drove our car 9,000 miles this past year (1.36 mtc) and we drove a rental car a further 1,000 miles (.36 mtc). My portion of the household car usage then accounts for .43 mtc. Other kinds of transportation: long distance train travel 1085 miles (.02 mtc); bus travel, both local and long distance, about 300 miles (.05 mtc); and subway travel about 185 miles (.02 mtc). My secondary lifestyle choices accounted for another 3.82 mtc (pescatarian, eat some organic food, mostly local produce, buy new clothes occasionally, some packaging, buy new electronics but keep them, recycle most of my waste, occasionally go out, own a car, and use the regular range of financial services).
