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).

The Carbon Warrior: What and Why

The CarbonWarrior:

One middle-class American’s journey
against Climate Change.

Have you been struck by one of the myriad of climate related natural disaster yet?  Fires, floods, hurricanes? Perhaps you know someone affected by Catrina or Maria or the Camp Fire. Maybe you just notice the changes in climate and know the worst is coming.

The Climate Crisis is the new normal.

This is a blog about one Apprentice's journey to become a warrior in the battle against the Climate Crisis.  One person's exploration of what each of us might do, individually, to be a part of the solution, rather than succumbing to being part of the problem.

What and Why:

“The Why” is easier. If you are reading this then you already know Climate Change is

happening. More importantly, you know the we, humans, you and I, are causing it. 
Now. Today. Tomorrow.

Climate Change is a Crisis that we need to combat. And by “we,” I mean societies,

governments, communities, and yes, every individual - me.

This is my journey to fight Climate Change, to reduce my “Carbon Footprint,” to become
a Carbon Warrior. 

I begin today, as an apprentice. I have a hard road ahead. 

Now “The What.”
What is a “Carbon Footprint”? What is a “Carbon Warrior”?

Our footprint is the mark we leave behind. It is our scar left on the earth. Our carbon

footprint is the amount of carbon that each of us, (usually measured in tons per year),

contribute to the atmosphere, and thus a measure of our annual contribution to the

Climate Crisis.

The most recent report for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

shows that that if we don’t cut our carbon emissions at least in half, and damn soon,

the planet is doomed.

For me, being a Carbon Warrior means simply that.

Cut my individual Carbon Footprint in half. 

Of course, IPCC also stated that the world really needs to get to carbon zero by 2040.

But let’s take this one step, one serious step, at a time.

The Warrior Metaphor:

In this journey, I use the language of war, of battle, of combat. I am not a hawk, but I

believe it to be apt language. The planet has never faced an enemy as great as

Human-Caused Climate Change. Past reasons to go to war, may pale in comparison.

Our fight against the Climate Crisis will require determination, planning, investment, and

sacrifice. Yes, sacrifice.

War is the only metaphor that makes sense.

My journey as an apprentice begins.



Following the Carbon Apprentice Path:
For each post entry, I offer tips, suggestions, thoughts and reflections on the path ahead.
We are all apprentices.
Perhaps you strive to be warriors.

For today's footstep, I ask you to read and consider, at least two more entries,
take two more steps along the apprentice path.
This seems to be a popular post, Eating Animals
Here is my latest: Breaking it down...

Consider sharing this blog with friends or social network that might appreciate it.

Our planet will die by the death of a thousand cuts, or survive by the journey of a
thousand footsteps. Begin the journey.