What's the Story with Stuff?

Like most of you, during the Pandemic I have been hunkered down at home, focusing on the things that are really important in my life. Family, close friends, getting outdoors, eating home cooked vegetarian (sometimes vegan) food....

Being at home with family has given me an opportunity to reflect on “Stuff.” And with that, also the issues of consumerism, waste, things we don’t need, things we do, and the impacts that all of this has on our fragile, resource-limited, planet.

Roughly 10% of my carbon footprint, my impact on this tiny globe, comes from the “Consumption of Stuff.” For most American's it is closer to a full quarter (25%) of their footprint.

What do I mean by "Stuff?"  I mean ALL the non-food good and materials that I buy, use, and toss away as I go about my daily life. This includes all the food-related packaging, paper, cans, bottles, and most importantly, plastics. But it also includes all the sports equipment, appliances, clothes, gifts, furniture, games, books, etc. The things that I find myself buying at a store, or on Amazon, or Walmart, and inevitably and eventually, carting to the dump, either in trash bags or recycling bins, and often, with lots of life left in them.

Stuff is The Planet Killer:
Why is it important to work on my “stuff-print”? After all, it’s only about 10% of my total.

Because it is the buying, using, and tossing of Stuff that represents the single-most, detrimental, systemic problem contributing to Climate Change, and includes the extraction of scarce resources, the consumption economy, the perversion of democracy, the decline of happiness.... This cycle of extraction, production, transportation, use, and waste of "Stuff," all fueled by governmental policies, is the true planet killer.

If you have never seen it, the 17-minute, whiteboard video, "The Story of Stuff" by Annie Leonard, is worth watching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GorqroigqM...
And sharing,
And showing your kids,
And your parents.



If you are curious about plastic recycling, try googling and watching, "Plastic Wars."

(https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/plastic-wars/)

So what I am doing to lower my "Stuff-Print?"

8: Buying bulk, instead of packaged, (beans, rice, granola, nuts, flour,...)
7:  Asking my friends and neighbors if I can borrow, AND offering that they can borrow mine, (picnic table, lawn chair, kayak, grill, rake, lawn-mower,...)
6:  Shopping at the thrift store, instead of the buying new, (Salvation Army, consignment,....)
5:  Yard sale, flea market, and estate visiting, 
4:  Finding a repair man,  instead or tossing,
3:  Choosing local wood as a material for building, furniture, bowls; over other choices,
2:  Putting off the next purchase, at least until tomorrow, if not next week,

1:  Making a gift, instead of buying something, (a poem, pickles, pies)

Carbon in the Time of Coronavirus

The Planet Strikes Back
At the end of my last post on Taking the Daily Commute, I lamented that my environmental agency employer does not allow telecommuting, a great low Carbon option.

Guess What?  Now they do. I, and all my colleagues, have now been teleworking since March 16, 2020, when the Governor ordered us to stay home. COVID19 may change everything, or more likely, in a few years our society will go back to its consumer-driven, car-centric, face-to-face meeting, airline-loving, carbon-burning, planet-fucking, good old self.

But for the moment, the Coronavirus Pandemic is having quite an impact on Carbon.  It is clear an example that the Earth does have some strong tools in her fight back against the "human virus."

The impacts on Carbon from the pandemic won't be known for some time, and only anecdotal bits of data are drifting in, but consider a few of these:

• As of the end of February, China's CO2 emissions were down 25% from the previous year.
• As of March 25, most airlines had cut between 20% and 100% of all their flights. 
• https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/02/21/business/coronavirus-airline-travel.html
• Many, if not most, employees are working remotely without daily commutes or traveling to meetings or other driving.
• https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2020/03/17/covid-19-makes-the-benefits-of-telework-obvious/
• People are buying less "stuff" or at least putting off purchases. 
• American's diets may even be changing with more home cooking and less fast food.

On broader environmental factors, the virus is having a positive impact as well.  

• Worldwide, air pollution around major cities is down.
• https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-51944780

• In Venice, canal and harbor water is reportedly cleaner.
• https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/venice-canals-clear-water-scli-intl/index.html

So what does all this mean?

The pessimist in me knows that this is only a momentary blip.  The Gaia is resilient, but we have and will continue to damage her greatly, and we and our children will suffer.

But the optimist in me hopes that we may learn a few lessons that last from this pandemic. Maybe more of us will be able to work remotely or have on-line meetings. Maybe we will decide to vacation closer to home rather than flying.  Maybe some of us will embrace the joys of home cooking and even vegetarian cooking. 

And maybe, just maybe, we will re-learn the value of spending time playing, socializing and hiking outdoors with our closest families and friends. 

Taking on the Daily Commute

Combating the Driving Demon

Over 40% of my individual Carbon Footprint comes from driving.

This month, I entered the dark and wonderful world of trying to get to and from work each day without my car.

I live in a semi-rural "village." My office is eight (8) miles away in the near-by "town," or about twenty-two (22) minutes by car. Sixteen (16) miles a day, five (5) days a week, fifty (50) weeks a year - my personal commute adds 4,000 miles driven to Climate Change.

Of course, I am not alone. The average American's commute is 32 miles each day. According to U.S. Census data, 76% of us drive ourselves, alone, in our cars, both ways, each day, to work.


Now if you live in a city, like Boston or New York or San Francisco, getting to work without your car, may be second nature, may seem obvious.  You deserve awards for your low carbon lifestyle. For those of us who live elsewhere, there are no awards, only choices and habits, perhaps time and (in)convenience.

My initial exploration of the "no car-mute" has been over a couple months now, but I take some poetic license and present it here as a single week.

Monday: Just Get on the Bus, Gus:
Although I don't live anywhere "urban," I am lucky enough to live in a village at the end of the regional bus system's R42 line. I live a quarter mile from the stop, that hourly runs a bus to "town," leaving me another 1.75 mile walk to my office.

www.pvta.com

I had not taken the bus since I was a teenager, so it took me a little work on-line to find the schedules, and even learn that there is an App, MyStop, that provides real-time location data for my bus.  Today, the ride was easy. The bus was clean, and comfortable. I got to read the paper and even get a 2 mile walk in before arriving at my office. I felt good about the experience, and proud to pay $1.50 to support public transportation, though I was surprised at how few riders there were.  The whole journey took about 55 minutes door open to door.

The afternoon's experience was less positive. By the end of the day, the weather had turned cold and rainy. The 1.75 mile walk would have been unpleasant, but I was fortunate enough to catch a ride downtown with a work colleague. Not wanting to miss my bus, I arrived at the stop few minutes before the scheduled pick up.  But the cold rain began to freeze, and traffic slowed.  The App showed my bus on its way, but 15 minutes later still no bus, and the App seemed more frozen than my fingers. I considered my options - phone a friend? call a cab? download Uber? Eventually, the bus did come, 30 minutes late. The experience took 1:15. It was miserable. 

Tuesday: Just Share with a Friend, Jen

Given that most of us drive alone to work, usually at similar hours, it is not surprising that there might be others who do exactly what I do almost every day. My neighborhood is relatively tight knit.  I emailed my neighbors and, sure enough, my across-the-street friend drives from his house right by my office, every day, usually at the time I want to go.
"Can I ride with you? I'll buy coffee."
"Of course!"

The commute was great. We chatted, got coffee, shared an experience. It took me no more time, and was no less convenient, only more fun.

Wednesday: No Luck, Chuck
Today was tough. My work schedule had me going to two off-site meetings, that I could not get my head around.  I drove myself to work, and back again, solo.

I did, however, take the opportunity to combine the trip to town with shopping that needed to get done, and might otherwise have lead to an additional trip to town. I also brought a change of work clothes to my office anticipating the following day.

Thursday: Hop on the Bike, Mike
The weather was warmer and sunny on Thursday. I rode to work. The trip there is down hill, and  because of morning car congestion, I can actually get to work in the same time as driving by the main road!  There is also a beautiful bike path for about 80% of my ride. It is a bit slower than the road, taking closer to 28 minutes, but very pleasant.

Mass Central Rail Trail - Norwottuck

Riding home, I took a longer route on rural roads, getting in a 50 minute ride and a nice work out. The bonus of riding, aside from zero Carbon Emissions, is that by the time I got home, I had already worked out for the day. I can actually gain time in my week by riding.

Paul's Commuting Options by Mode with top Pros and Cons

Friday: Telecommute
A great No Carbon commute option is just plain staying home. Compressed schedules, telecommuting, holding off-site meetings locally, all have many benefits for Carbon, congestion, air pollution, worker productivity and our own all too busy lives.

Recognizing this, in Massachusetts this year, the Governor "put forward a tax credit incentive program of up to $50 million each year to encourage employers to develop working policies to promote offsite work." 

Unfortunately, the agency I work for, an environmentally conscious agency, has yet to develop these policies. I am technically not allowed to telecommute.

Friday, I drove :(

38 Pounds Saved
My week's efforts, even with two "driving days" saved about 48 miles driven, about 2 gallons of gas, about 38 pounds of CO2. I exercised, shared time with a friend, and supported public transportation. It took some advanced planning, some effort, some time, but all told, not a bad week.

I continue the effort.

Each week since, I no-car-mute, on average, at least three (3) days a week.


The Apprentice Path:

• I suggest starting with opportunistic carpooling. How many times do you see your neighbor at the same store or event? How often do you and your friends drive empty seats to the same locale? Always offer, always accept, take the most efficient car.

• If you are already an good pooler, how about committing to a no carbon Friday? Plan to not drive on one day a week, same day, every week. Put it on your schedule. 

• When it comes time to replace your car, go electric.  

PS. By the way, here is a really interesting graphic on commuting and commuting times by state and some cities: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/average-commute-u-s-states-cities/

  

Breaking it Down: The Parts of my Footprint

Eating the apple, one bite at a time.  

We live in a world of Climate Crisis.
I aspire to be a Carbon Warrior.

My warrior goal? Cut my carbon footprint in half, from 14 tons to 7 tons per year.
I strive to walk the apprentice path to become the future warrior.

I began by cutting our home energy use by about 30% with some simple investments and incentives that all pay for themselves fairly quickly and require few lifestyle changes or sacrifices. 

I became a vegetarian and an occasional vegan, cutting my Food-print by 32%.

So what’s next?

One's carbon footprint is made up of parts.
Some parts reflect necessities - food, heat, shelter…
Other parts reflect choices - travel, recreation, fashion…
Still other parts are a function of lifestyle - where we live, where we work, the size of our house….

The chart below, with data from the Union of Concerned Scientists, shows how the average American's carbon footprint components add up.

From https://www.lowcarbonsimplified.com/my-carbon-footprint-manifesto/ based on a 20 T/Yr Footprint

Using the on-line calculators discussed in The-apprenticeship-begins, I calculated my own pie chart to see how I compare, where the biggest and smallest pieces of my Carbon Footprint lie.

Using the calculator results and an Excel spreadsheet, here is my baseline breakdown:

Holy gas guzzlers batman!"

More than half of my Carbon Footprint comes from transportation.
My driving - to work, or play, or kids sports - accounts for 40%.
My vacations and air travel, only two (2) round trip flights per year, is another 20%.

This surprises me.

My home electric and heating and cooling?
The things I thought about first, like lights and furnace? Those only account for 9% of my total footprint. Important sure, but contrary to my first impression, contrary to the U.S. average, maybe not where my real journey lies.

Miles Driven are my Carbon Demon:
The challenge for me in this journey along the path will be to face and battle my Transportation Footprint.

Living where I do in a semi-rural, semi-suburban community..., my life-style decisions have impacts.

Working where I do, an office one town over..., the daily miles add up.

The challenge that lies ahead will not come from simple, small investments, or from single changes in behavior.  Tackling Mile Driven and Miles Flown will prove to be a true struggle.


The Apprentice Path:

• If you are inclined to use a calculator to create your own baseline pie chart, DO.  I found it powerful.
• If not, estimate your Carbon Demon. Perhaps you fly more than a couple times a year. Maybe you are a meat eater. Perhaps shopping and fashion are your demons. 
• Don't just consider your demon, also consider your strength.  Where are you better than average? Perhaps you drive a hybrid. Maybe you walk to work? Do you live in a city with great public transport? You are a hero. 
• Write down and share, your Demon and your Strength.

Eating Animals

Eating Animals

The Carbon Costs of Diet

For her nineteenth birthday, I asked my daughter what she wanted. She told me that she'd like my gift to be reading a book.
"Ooh, What book?" I asked.
"Eating Animals, by Jonathan Safran Foer," she answered.

Now, I have always considered myself an Environmentalist. It's part of who I am.

I grew up hiking. I was a Boy Scout (and actually, an honorary Girl Scout in my mom's troop before that.) I went on trash hikes as an elementary schooler. The tree in my front yard, I planted on Arbor Day in fifth grade. I joined the outing club as a teen. I vote for environmental referenda, give to Clean Water Action, and even supported Ralph Nader in 2000 (albeit from Massachusetts). Environmentalist is part of my identity.

I have also always been an omnivore.

I believe that humans evolved eating plants and meat. I am not personally bothered by killing animals. I have fished for and even slaughtered, food. I like beef and lamb and chicken and cheese, and of course, bacon. Meat was a part of my cultural tradition, and an big part of my family table.

Jonathan Safran Foer is a New York Times best selling author and wonderful story teller. Eating Animals tells the compelling tale of our system of animal based food production and all its ramifications. In chapter three, he shares that "our food choices contribute at least as much to climate change as our transportation choices." He notes that the United Nations recently summarized the effects of animal farming as "one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale, from local to global."

He ends the section on Environmentalism with, "Most simply put, someone who regularly eats factory-farmed animal products cannot call himself an environmentalist without divorcing that word from its meaning."

I was stunned.
I regularly eat store-bought meat.
I am an environmentalist.
Who am I?


According to "Shrinkthatfootprint.com" The average American's food footprint is 2.5 tons per year.  The average U.S. vegetarian's is 2/3rds of that at 1.7 tons.  A U.S. vegan diet is roughly 1.5 tons per year.



That day, I became a vegetarian.
It was not hard. My wife had been a vegetarian for years. But it took my child to nudge me. I love exploring the glories of vegetarian food. I aspire to be vegan, or mostly vegan, but have not yet made the jump.

Vegetarian and Vegan (for carbon) are not absolutes:
If the goal is Carbon Footprint reduction, then the goal is achieved by every incremental step. Meatless Mondays are a good first step for many. The occasional slice of bacon is far better than a steak once a week. Cow milk in your coffee is OK, especially if you forgo cheese on your sandwich. (But have you tried oat milk in your coffee yet? It might be even better.)

Where's the Cheese?
When it comes to Carbon, it turns out, that it is not just about meat. But it is also, not just about dairy. As this graph from the Businessinsider.com shows, cheese is the third most carbon intensive food, behind lamb and beef, and slightly worse that pork, salmon and turkey. Milk and yogurt? They are actually not so bad.
https://www.businessinsider.com/the-top-10-foods-with-the-biggest-environmental-footprint-2015-9


Today, I am still a practicing vegetarian. By that one choice, I have reduced my Carbon Footprint from diet by 32%. But I strive to do better.

The Apprentice Path:
Each of us comes to our diet decisions in our own time, in our own way. Food is personal.
For the path today, I suggest...

• Check out Eating Animals from the library, or download the audio book.
• Commit to "Meatless Mondays" or "Vegan Sundays" or "Vegetarian January."
• Ask for vegetarian food at the next work meeting or social function. 

Small steps, make a difference. Normalizing low carbon diets, matters.

The Apprenticeship Begins

The Apprenticeship Beings. 

Calculating My Baseline Footprint.
Setting my Sights.

You can’t get to where you are going if you don’t know where you are.

One of my first step in becoming a Carbon Warrior is to know where I am starting from.

What is my current contribution to the Climate Crisis? What mark am I leaving on

the planet today? What legacy am I leaving to the future?

My goal to become a Carbon Warrior is to cut my individual carbon use in half, but, 

the first step is to establish a starting point, a baseline.

Counting how much Carbon I cause by turning on a light? By eating dinner?

By driving to soccer? That’s hard. It takes math, and data, and records, and

assumptions, and estimates.

Fortunately there are some relatively simple on-line calculators that make this

easier. I’ll share a couple here, but there may be others that work better for you.

The CoolClimate Network is a partnership program run through the University of

California at Berkeley, https://coolclimate.berkeley.edu/calculator. The CoolClimate

Calculator provides an interactive calculator, some options for what data to input,

and results in a footprint by household.  It is relatively simple to use, intuitive, and

flexible. This calculator includes different tabs and charts for travel, home, food, and

“stuff.” It also provides a nice interface for taking action and finding strategies to

reduce your footprint. 

The calculator I used mostly is from a private British company, CarbonFootprint.Com,

https://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx. This tool calculates an individual footprint.

It allows you to input more detailed data, and even change some parameters.  The car

tab, for example, asks for data about your specific vehicle make and model. The air

travel tab, calculates based on specific flights and routes.

I started by looking through my files for old electric bills. I called my oil company for past
delivery data. I checked my car maintenance records for mileage figures.
Then I made some guesses and…

Tada!

I have a total baseline Carbon Footprint of 14 metric tons of carbon per year!

So what? Is that good? Bad? 

According to Carbonfootprint.com, the average American’s footprint is 16.5 metric tons. 

OK. I’m better than average. That’s good. Not surprising. 

The average for people in industrial countries worldwide (Europe, Japan, etc.) is 11 tons.

Well, now my 14 tons does not seem so impressive. 

The average worldwide per person footprint, 4 tons.

Holy crap, seriously? I guess we, in the developed world, kinda suck.

The worldwide average target to adequately combat climate change?
Two (2) tons per person per year.

To be a Carbon Warrior, my goal is to cut my 14 tons of carbon per year in half to 7 tons. 

A serious goal, but even that won’t get our planet back.

Its a journey of a thousand steps. One step at a time.

The Apprentice Path:
What you can do.

• Try out one of these (or another) Carbon Calculator. What's your baseline?

• Take three minutes and truly consider, "do I have a carbon reduction goal?"

• If you do have a Carbon reduction goal.  Share it with a friend.

Of Light Bulbs and Thermostats

Of Light Bulbs and Thermostats 

Getting Started along the Path at Home

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration

https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/use-of-energy/homes.php)

residential home energy use accounts for almost a quarter of energy use in the U.S.

and about 20% of carbon emissions. 

Of our home energy uses, half comes from heating and cooling 
(the furnace, air conditioner, radiators, etc.). 
The next biggest user is water heating...

then lighting,
then the dryer,

then the refrigerator.

Infographic from:

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/what-uses-the-most-energy-home/

I choose to start with lighting.
I checked out every bulb in the house, and was surprised to find several incandescent
bulbs and several compact florescent bulbs.

Honestly, it took a small investment, but it was worth it down the line.
We bought a variety of efficient “warm white” LED bulbs, between 800 and 1600 lumens.
We sent the kids around the house on a treasure hunt to find and replace all the
old bulbs.

What the hell are lumens?

1600 lumens equals the same light output as the old 100 watt incandescent bulb some
of us grew up with, but uses only 16% of the electricity.  800 lumens are equal to the
old 60 watt bulb.

“Warm white” mimics the yellow color of old incandescent bulbs, as opposed to

the “bright white” seen in most stores.

Changing all our bulbs reduced out monthly electricity use age by 18%.
I feel good about that.

Our next step was the programmable thermostat. Previously, we had an old style that you

turn up and down manually.  With a programmable thermostat, set set it to go down at night
automatically. And we set it to do up in the morning before we rise. I goes down again,
even if we forget, during the middle of the day. Weekends are different.

The programmable thermostat brought our annual home heating oil usage down by 15%.


Following the Apprentice Path:

What can you do?

• Check out all your light bulbs.  Send the kids on a treasure hunt.  How many non-LEDs do you have?
• Did you remember the garage?  The basement?  What about all the recessed lighting?  The closets?
• Make a count.
• Replace them all.

Want free LED's?  Call your electricity provide for a home energy audit
(to be discussed in a future entry).