Life and Vincent: Carbon Footprints

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Carbon Footprints

The figures in my paper yesterday were from 2006. But the number of metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per person in that year were:

India 1.16
China 4.58
Japan 9.78
EU 10.22
Russia 12.00
US 19.78

I'll bet my house that that figure has not reduced.

The rest of the world can do what it can, but unless the US stops its selfish destruction of the planet, there will be no Earth left for anyone to live on. It's not a case of not being able to afford to do anything. Neither you nor the rest of us can afford for you not to.

Elephants, rhinos, all sorts of endangered creatures dying in the various African droughts, not to mention the humans and their livestock. Rainforests (the lungs of the planet) destroyed to make furniture, or extract mineral to make new mobile phones (goodbye gorillas). If we want to save them we just cannot wait any longer.

The best thing that could happen to this world would be for the human race to die out now.

I'm terrified, not for me, but for the wonderful creatures being sacrificed on the altar of human greed and waste.

Dear readers, what can WE do, to help, in no matter how small a way?

I've turned my thermostat right down. Almost every appliance is switched off at the mains when not in use. I use my own cloth shopping bags instead of those vile plastic carrier bags that float down our lovely landscaped river. Everything possible goes in the recycling bin. I'm going to double-insulate my loft.

I'd really like to have solar panels on the roof, but they really are out of reach of my pocket.

It's not much. Any ideas as to how I - and you - can do more?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...: First, great blog!

There is a great book "No impact Man...", just came out recently - give it a read! Has some great ideas.

I have said time and time again...humans need to go. How sad we are going to be the only animals left when we kill off all the others!

Again...great blog!; 8:47 pm
val said...: Thanks, Charley. I've just pre-ordered the paperback, which comes out next week.; 8:53 pm
Anonymous said...: Part of the problem in the U.S. is the conservatives who think that global warming is just liberal propaganda.

At least I know that I've been doing my part to lower the U.S.'s number.; 12:47 am
SnarkAngel said...: Unfortunately, our so-called "leaders" here in the U.S. have refused to take the lead when it comes to conservation and the environment. At least I have my cloth shopping bags. And I buy my clothes at the second-hand stores. "Resale" suits me. Pardon the pun.; 6:35 am
Eliza said...: Not sure what else you can do Val, looks like you have most of it covered.

The stupid thing is, if people thought about it, by reducing your carbon footprint you reduce your bills too, in lots of ways..surely it's worth doing for that even if you are one of the strange people who cares nothing for the enviroment?

Now I have to take a trolley full of glass up to the local recycling centre because it's the one thing our doorstep service doesn't recycle...; 9:09 am
jazzy said...: Saving your money = saving the environment.
Since energy such as gas, heating oil, electricity is very expensive, I just had to make a lot changes at home. I also go for "recycling products". Waste separation is an important thing to do, too.; 5:41 pm
jazzy said...: And, if you can, buy only local products. The import of foreign products harms the environment, because trucks, railways, air planes etc burn much fuel.; 5:58 pm
JoJo said...: We recycle as much as we can, but our county doesn't allow glass to be thrown in w/ the rest of the recycling. That's OK, we don't have that much glass anyway.

But I won't buy water in bottles anymore. I do need to get cloth sacks for my groceries though; but each week I ask for paper instead of plastic, so that I can recycle the paper bags. Plus they are good for tossing all our house recyclables into like cans and paper. I don't buy many clothes in retail stores, only used. I do try to patronize local shops & buy locally made items, esp. if I'm on a trip.

I won't give up my a/c, but as I said, my home is heated and cooled w/ natural gas, and our generator is set up to run on gas as well. We keep the house at a balmy 65 year round. We don't use that much water (I even turn it off while I'm brushing my teeth).

Living in CA during the drought years of the early 90's forced us into changed our water usage, so it's second nature turn the water off. And having grown up w/ well water, I have always observed, "if it's yellow let it mellow" b/c we'd run out of water if we flushed after every pee.; 9:43 pm

Life and Vincent

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Carbon Footprints

8 comments:

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