Carbon Footprint
I've calculated my carbon footprint (here) and got an astonishing amount of 6.52 tonnes per year. This is really much more than I had expected! The average footprint for people in Italy is 7.70 tonnes and a bit less than 6 in Portugal. I really thought that I would have a significantly bellow average impact since:
- I recycle,
- don't own a car,
- bike everyday to the university and within the city,
- mostly do medium-distance trips (by train),
- share the house with 2 other people,
- don't use heating or cooling at home.
Apparently my two biggest sins are flying too much (2 tons a year!) and buying secondary products (3 tons a year). I'm really not seeing how to get the targeted 2 tons a year since I'm not even counting with the impact at the office with the A/C always pumping and the computers always on. My only hope is that these websites are inaccurate and that they are just trying to sell people carbon offsetting.
I was shocked with my car result (won't even say it), but I don't believe that in Portugal the average footprint is 5.63 tonnes
http://routerank.com/en/ calculates the alternative routes between places showing the different footprints
this websites are always inaccurate....there are some inconvenient truths mostly ignored... top carbon emissions go to food production (meat consumption) and airplane use... nice doc: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk7LPUHes8U
that's true, you can never calculate the carbon emissions fully, how about the emissions for the road that was laid out for your car, or the extra food workers had to eat while paving the road that you drive on, etc. :) but at least you can put them in a comparative scale, and be conscious on how train, plane, car, bike etc. compare for a given route. The routerank.com website works quite fabulous actually with giving you the means for such comparison, but at the same time it is clear that the absolute amount can never count in everything.