A tool to calculate the damage I do.

Those who know me, know that part of my minimalist life style is thinking anything I don’t own is one less thing to dust or take care of, but part of it is environmental, which is one reason I refuse to own a car and have chosen to live where public transportation works, which doesn’t mean from time to time that I use others’ cars and even take an unnecessary ride with them into the mountains or an interesting spot.

I don’t use paper towels, paper napkins, plastic bags, cling film, etc. and don’t miss them in the least. Less junk to mess up my kitchen. I figure if the world got along without them until about 60 years ago, I don’t need ’em. Never is a light left on unnecessarily and I shut off all electronic products that sleep. I just figure I am ahead of time and our throw-away society will have to conform as resources disappear although perhaps not in my lifetime. And of course, I gain with really low electrical bills.

However, during this canicule when the flat gets so hot (over 90) so I can watch my energy drip out of my body puddling on the floor in front of me, I reach for the air conditioner click it, and yell “DIE PLANET!!! Die that I may live.” It is a good thing no one is around to hear and call the mental medics. Not only that I am grateful to my daughter for pulling a wobbly to convince me to buy the air conditioning, so any attempt at superiority at my eco-friendliness has to be tempered with imperfection if not a sense of humor at my own limitations.

What I didn’t realize that there’s a new industry cropping up and that is responsible ecotourism where you can offset your emissions. For example when I go to Dublin later this month, for business my emissions from this flight will be: 0.31 tons of CO₂.

I figured that out from a great web site. http://www.climatecare.org a great tool to measure my personal responsibility in destroying the planet.

It also shows how much damage I did by driving a total of 500 km. last year which was to create emissions of 0.11 Tons of CO₂. However if the car I used got only 18 MPG instead of 35 it would be .47 tons. When I look at the numbers, it is a mathematical way to help me decide how I get my body from place A to place B.