My Shrinking Carbon Footprint
Suddenly, everyone was worried.e We were expecting a baby,
and my husband and I found ourselves involved in various conversations with
friends that centered around the theme of how one might offset the clear
environmental damage that inevitably comes with bringing a child into the world
(not an environmentally innocuous act). One often- quoted estimate claims that
the environmental impact of a child born in
No sooner were we
feeling virtuous than we encountered an environmental-poet parent friend who
assured us that he’d done the math, calculated the impact of cloth diapering,
including the resulting electricity, energy and water use, and found it to be
negligibly better than buying Pampers. This seemed a somewhat faulty argument,
given that plastic diapers would simply not degrade. Still, we were left
feeling less convinced that our cloth diapers were the answer. We were left
feeling, as often happens in the current craze to be green, slightly naive.
Perhaps we should
have listened to Ethan Greenhart, the green and ethical living advice columnist
from the British magazine Spiked. Greenhart, who has two children, assures us,
“Not a day has passed without me stressing to them what a burden they are on
the planet, and how much better off the world would be without them. I am proud
to say that they were worrying about their carbon footprint almost before they
could walk.” Skewed parenting advice, to be sure, and yet, this is Dr. Spock
for a guilty Generation X.
Speaking of guilt,
even the church is getting in on the green guilt. At the beginning of Lent this
year, bishops of the Church of England urged parishioners to forego the usual
Lenten fasts (sweets, chocolate) in favor of a carbon fast, suggesting that the
faithful give up plastic bags and excessive dishwasher use, among other
carbon-friendly sacrifices.
So where did the
idea come from? Just a year ago, I needed a definition. Like many phrases that
are easily absorbed as media buzzwords, it has a rather broad denotation.
Writing in The New Yorker in a February, 2008 article entitled “Big Foot,”
Michael Specter defines it aptly: “A person’s carbon footprint is simply a measure
of his contribution to global warming.” According to one educational publisher,
it was as recently as 2006 that the phrase was first used in an article in the
Business section of The New York Times. By the end of the year, it could be
found in articles in the Travel section and the Style section. Reducing your
footprint quickly became not only financially responsible and morally
imperative, but stylish.
Specter explores
the way the push to be green has moved into moral as well as economical territory.
Corporations from Kraft to Sara Lee to Marks and Spencer are competing to
become environmentally responsible, a competition spurred on by “economic
necessity as much as by ecological awareness.” However, like me with the cloth
diapers, in the push to be green a company can lose sight of complexity. Such
is the case with British food giant Tesco. Before long, foods will come with
“carbon labels”, ostensibly giving customers a choice when it comes to “green
consumption.” Specter quotes John Murlis of the Carbon Neutral Company, who
notes that “in our collective rush to make choices that display personal virtue
we may be losing sight of the larger problem.” The truth is that when it comes
to measuring environmental impact, one number—like a calorie count—will not
work. There are many factors, and a simplistic
equation, while it may make a customer feel better, will not accurately
assess her carbon footprint.
Still, the science
is clear. Climate change is real. Large and small efforts are welcome and long
overdue. To address the complex needs of larger companies, there are a number
of environmental consulting groups. Carbon Solutions Group is a Chicago-based
consulting firm that works with businesses to devise ways to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions. There is also the Chicago Climate Exchange,
On an individual
level, there are a number of online carbon calculators, such as the one at
carbonfootprint.com, which comes with advice on how to calculate, reduce and
offset.
Along with their
green admonition, the Church of England directed parishioners to Tearfund, a
development agency that is set up to urge people in the developed world to
reduce their energy consumption as a way to offset climate change already seen
in developing nations. On average in the
The Bishops of
England have taken an admirable leadership role. One wonders when American
spiritual leaders will follow suit. Despite the recent push to go green, the
average American’s energy consumption is still far above any other country.
Happily, here in
Published: April 06, 2008
Issue: 2008 Spring Green Issue
