My carbon footprint doesn't fit.
As the climate change industry grows, various websites are offering us the chance to measure our carbon footprint. But how effective can they be?
Here are a few: http://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.html
http://www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/carboncalculator/
http://www.carboncalculator.co.uk/
I've played around with these calculators for a couple of weeks now. But I can't see how accurate they can be, or if I am simply being led up the garden path for commercial gain, under the guise of tackling climate change.
One site told me I needed to offset about 5000t of CO2 to continue my lavish lifestyle. I'm not sure what that means.
Another site collated my information and shrieked; "We'd need 5.2 planets if everyone lived like you!"
It's possible that whatever details you enter, these sites are geared to admonish you and then try and get you to spend money offsetting your carbon footprint by buying credits. For example, instead of suggesting practical ways in which I could reduce the harmful effects of the way I live, it told me that by spending £35 on re-forestation in Kenya's Great Rift Valley (£38 if I wanted the certificate personalised and emailed to me) I could apparently salve my conscience.
What a wonderful concept. A clear conscience for £35. Absolution. I could then happily get into my 3-litre diesel 4x4 and continue my life.
I fear not. I also fear that the 'certificate' would only prove I was gullible enough to let a stranger relieve me of £35. And I don't see how that would make me a better person.
When you consider every aspect of an individual's life, completing 10 questions in an online questionnaire cannot be a serious science-based assessment of the damage that individual's lifestyle is doing to the planet.
This exercise hasn't necessarily told me anything I didn't already know. I drive a 3-litre diesel car and live in a very energy-inefficient old house. It didn't ask me how much of my own food I grew or reared, or how I disposed of waste, or even whether I through food scraps into the compost bin and kept them out of landfill, helping to reduce ammonia release.
What we need are practical, measurable things we can do in our daily lives that will have a practical, measurable impact.
The hi-jacking of climate change necessity for profit will only de-motivate people to think about the way we live now.
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