15 January 2008

Your Carbon Footprint

A great book to pick up would be "Carbon Calculator -- easy ways to reduce your carbon footprint" by Mark Lynas.

We need to become more carbon-literate to be more carbon-thrifty.

He lays out how you can take your gas bills, leckie bills, mileage/model of your car, holidays, commuting, and your pattern of consumption (love shopping/packaged food vs grow your own/shop locally), and figure our your current footprint.

Once you know your footprint, it's clearer which area to cut down to make a significant impact, and you'll know when you're 10% down on last year, when you're 25% down on 2 1/2 years ago, etc.

Personally, I shop locally/ethically, I don't drive, and I haven't flown since late August 2006 (Iceland, for a wedding). Where I need to cut down on is in areas like heating bills and insulation.

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