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Climate Change
I've been sort of promising myself that I'd do a series of posts on saving energy and the like. It's difficult, because when I'm stressed I find it very hard to deal with comments from climate change deniers.
I'm not sure if there are any reading my journal these days, but if you are, just consider this a series of posts on how to save money. Almost anything that helps reduce carbon emissions has good chances of saving money as well.
It's the Paris conference now. Whatever governments decide is unlikely to be enough to save us from a 2C rise in temperature by the end of the century. It may/may not be enough to save us from a 4C rise.
I have a granddaughter. This is the world she will inherit.
Governments alone cannot do it, but if we all act as individuals, then it becomes possible.
When did you last look at your carbon footprint?
There's a calculator here.
According to the calculator, I need 1.72 planets to maintain my lifestyle. However, there are some assumptions in the model that probably mean I'm a bit lower than that. In particular, our household uses very little hot water (there was no question of how often you bath/shower/etc). We also have solar panels (which don't generate masses but help a bit) and get all our electricity from renewable sources. (About 5% of our gas is renewable and Ecotricity hope to increase that over time)
I've just realised that I didn't factor in food grown on the allotment, so that will be a small gain as well.
I doubt I can ever get down to one planet, but I'm ahead of most of my friends.
The main reason is very simple, I haven't been on a plane since 2002.
I looked at the environmental cost and I quit. (I used to go to SF conventions in America, and I still miss the friends I made there)
Just one flight across the Atlantic emits as much CO2 per person as a typical year's driving.
I know many people (especially those with family overseas, for whom it's a particularly hard choice) who live very green lifestyles, but who continue flying. It's the environmental cost people try to overlook, and there's enormous social pressure to overlook it.
I have one friend who did attempt to give it up, and was pushed back into it by social pressure from friends.
Because the hard fact is that your friends will feel you're trying to guilt-trip them and they only way they can prevent that is by telling you that you're silly, that the plane will fly anyway, that you can offset the emissions, etc.
The truth is that the plane will use less fuel if you aren't on it (or won't fly at all if enough people decide not to go) and that carbon offsetting is often deeply flawed (I'll explain why if you want me to) and in any case does not remove the CO2 that you have emitted for that flight.
This is why I hate to post on environmental issues. My friends get unhappy. If I post about how to save energy with a new boiler, then no problem, but when it comes to flying, the vast majority of my friends fly, and those who have also chosen not to tend to keep quiet for exactly the same reasons that I do.
But, I have Oswin to think of. And millions of other little Oswins with friends and family who love them. I want them to have a future. I don't want them to inherit a world with droughts, erratic water supplies, ruined soils, pollution, extreme weather, vanished wildlife.
I'm not an environmentalist because I hate people.
I'm an environmentalist because I love people.
I'm not sure if there are any reading my journal these days, but if you are, just consider this a series of posts on how to save money. Almost anything that helps reduce carbon emissions has good chances of saving money as well.
It's the Paris conference now. Whatever governments decide is unlikely to be enough to save us from a 2C rise in temperature by the end of the century. It may/may not be enough to save us from a 4C rise.
I have a granddaughter. This is the world she will inherit.
Governments alone cannot do it, but if we all act as individuals, then it becomes possible.
When did you last look at your carbon footprint?
There's a calculator here.
According to the calculator, I need 1.72 planets to maintain my lifestyle. However, there are some assumptions in the model that probably mean I'm a bit lower than that. In particular, our household uses very little hot water (there was no question of how often you bath/shower/etc). We also have solar panels (which don't generate masses but help a bit) and get all our electricity from renewable sources. (About 5% of our gas is renewable and Ecotricity hope to increase that over time)
I've just realised that I didn't factor in food grown on the allotment, so that will be a small gain as well.
I doubt I can ever get down to one planet, but I'm ahead of most of my friends.
The main reason is very simple, I haven't been on a plane since 2002.
I looked at the environmental cost and I quit. (I used to go to SF conventions in America, and I still miss the friends I made there)
Just one flight across the Atlantic emits as much CO2 per person as a typical year's driving.
I know many people (especially those with family overseas, for whom it's a particularly hard choice) who live very green lifestyles, but who continue flying. It's the environmental cost people try to overlook, and there's enormous social pressure to overlook it.
I have one friend who did attempt to give it up, and was pushed back into it by social pressure from friends.
Because the hard fact is that your friends will feel you're trying to guilt-trip them and they only way they can prevent that is by telling you that you're silly, that the plane will fly anyway, that you can offset the emissions, etc.
The truth is that the plane will use less fuel if you aren't on it (or won't fly at all if enough people decide not to go) and that carbon offsetting is often deeply flawed (I'll explain why if you want me to) and in any case does not remove the CO2 that you have emitted for that flight.
This is why I hate to post on environmental issues. My friends get unhappy. If I post about how to save energy with a new boiler, then no problem, but when it comes to flying, the vast majority of my friends fly, and those who have also chosen not to tend to keep quiet for exactly the same reasons that I do.
But, I have Oswin to think of. And millions of other little Oswins with friends and family who love them. I want them to have a future. I don't want them to inherit a world with droughts, erratic water supplies, ruined soils, pollution, extreme weather, vanished wildlife.
I'm not an environmentalist because I hate people.
I'm an environmentalist because I love people.
no subject
But I am sure my life style is not as bad as it seems according to the test. I live quite modestly and I do my best to protect all forms of Nature actively.
I share your fears and I care!
no subject
I know my footprint will get worse if Henry leaves home. (He'll be here until he finds a suitable girl - I hope he finds someone, but I'll miss him when he does.)
Have you ever thought of taking a lodger?
It's good for your income as well as your carbon footprint.
Any long journeys you take will also make a difference.
The test will be reasonably accurate - most people massively underestimate their footprint. Many people
People like you and me have always cared, but having that little toddler in the family makes us care even more.
no subject
Take a lodger here in Spolí is near to impossible. Our village is situated "off the beaten tracks" so to speak and commuting fro-and-to is miserable. Also the design of the house is stupid - it would need some very expensive arrangements. Besides, I never know when my son appears to stay overnight...
This used to be a typical design of 80s : too big for a small family a too small for a big one. I hate my small kitchen because kitchen is the place where everyone wants to be, to sit, eat and talk. Instead of that, we have a very strange room that is a hybrid between a hall and a corridor, it is open and difficult to keep warm because it is open from all sides.
Anyway.
I often think of our children and grandchildren, what will they inherit, poor things. People keep consumming and exploiting and give nothing back, they don´t care. But Mother Nature is fed up with us humans...and I am afraid, our children will pay for our fatal mistakes...This sounds silly but I have always thought of the nature like of a living and intelligent entity...and I respect Her.