IHeartBiochar’s Recent Comments

• Click here to view comment in original post

  Very well said, Kelii127

  Just what I was thinking. :) Umbra, you have written more recently (and accurately!) about carbon offsets than the 2005 column about RECS - here:
  http://www.grist.org/advice/ask/2007/10/15/index.html
  Recently, a number of voluntary offset standards have been developed that certify carbon offsets for quality and, sometimes, additional social and environmental benefits. The Stockholm Environment Institute put out this report in March. Maybe it's worth a column?On Umbra on carbon trading posted 1 year, 4 months ago 7 Responses

• Click here to view comment in original post

  Carbon footprint over time

  to chime in again...

  For people really serious about reducing their carbon footprint, one potential weakness with many of the carbon calculators out there is that they're snapshots - you can't track your reductions like you might with an actual diet (stepping on the scale periodically to see how you're doing). The UK has a head start on the US for sites that let you track your footprint over time, though there's at least one business-focused site in the US. Here are the ones I'm aware of:

  Edenbee (UK)
  Carbon Diet (UK)
  OpenEco (US, business-focused)On Umbra on carbon calculators posted 1 year, 5 months ago 11 Responses

• Click here to view comment in original post

  Big footprints, but I do like government services

  I didn't hear the NPR interview, so I don't know how the speaker was imagining a per-person carbon footprint. If you count just the things an individual is directly responsible for, like personal transportation and home energy use, maybe (maybe) you could get your footprint down to one ton. In general, these are the kinds of things measured by the personal carbon calculators out there.

  But if you use a more complete calculation, which includes a share of the emissions you benefit from (businesses whose products you buy, government services like libraries and police), MIT students have found that the lowest carbon footprint an American can have is 8.5 tons. However, this kind of calculation works in a top-down fashion (total emissions from all sectors divided by population) and wouldn't be very easy to calculate - or change - for individual people.

  Don't be discouraged, though. All this shows is that it will take both individual and institutional changes to reduce our overall carbon footprint. In a democracy, institutional changes don't usually happen until individuals have proven those actions doable and effective. So good luck with the diet!On Umbra on carbon calculators posted 1 year, 5 months ago 11 Responses