What's your carbon footprint?

[LittleFredPunkinHead]

This is interesting: http://www.myfootprint.org/

You're given a quiz that tells you what your "footprint" is on the world, based on things like how much meat you eat, how much you drive, how much you fly, what sort of housing you live in, etc.

My score was 19. Better than that of the average person where I live, but overall, not good. :o

[Katie&Micah]

12

IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 2.8 PLANETS.
yikes!

[MLA]

I got 20, but honestly, I don't know how accurate it is since there wasn't really the option of putting in exactly how much electricity, water, natural gas, etc I use each month. I don't really feel like I know much more than I did before . . .

I wonder if there are better websites out there for this?

[Chelsea524]

21
IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 4.7 PLANETS
Ouch!! My walk score was also low though, you can't get anywhere around here without a car, so I have to drive everywhere and its always a pretty good distance to drive. I think thats where I scored the worst.

[MidwesternGal]

I got a 15.

However, I think that's a little lower than it should be.

I'd need 3.3 planets for me to live.

DH, on the other hand. . . he got a 22 and needs 5 planets!!

The difference? He drives a horrible gas guzzling truck EVERYWHERE (I've argued with him about this to no avail) and loves processed foods, and NEVER walks, period.

[Ericka_Jarett]

13, would need 3 planets

[Sophia]

12

I seem to recall doing one on Al Gore's website that asked more specific questions.

[Sophia]

Here's the Al Gore/Inconvenient Truth version of the quiz.

http://www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/carboncalculator/

My score was a tiny 2.35 tons on that one (national average is 7.5 tons)!
I have only 25,000 miles on my 5yo car, and our electricity comes from a 100% carbon neutral source. We don't use natural gas, heating oil, or propane. I never fly anywhere (last time was for my honeymoon 4 years ago), and we have 5 people living in our house.

[sparkle&shine]

I score a 15 (first link) There is NO public transportation and nowhere to walk or ride to. I have to drive everywhere and there is little locally grown near me.

[LittleFredPunkinHead]

Mine is 5.1 on Al Gore's, which again, is lower than average. The thing with his though is that it doesn't tell you what yours ought to be. I mean, 5.1 might look good to me because it's less than average, but if I ought to be at 1, then it's not good at all, is it?

[kam]

Not sure how my score was calculated since I'm a vegetarian, have a car that I drive less than 20 miles a week (the option was 10-100), etc. I do live in a house with electricity, so I guess that's where it is? My score is 20.

[jki]

12 on the Earth Day Footprint quiz and 4.8 on Al Gore's quiz. It's interesting to see the numbers change on Al's quiz as you input the different variables.

[Niobe]

8 on the Earth Day quiz, 1.5 on Gore's - I eat too much meat, that killed me on the Earth Day quiz.

[Ericka_Jarett]

6.6 on Gore's.

We only pay for our electric, the rest is covered by our landlord so no idea on that.

[BTB]

17 on Earth Day's quiz, 4.2 on Gore's.

I was a little surprised neither quiz asked about recycling - though the first one did ask about how much trash we generate. Although recycling does end up using resources in the processing, that may work out neutral or as a strike against you in terms of carbon footprint.

[mindy75]

18 on the Earth Day, 5.2 on Gore's. Not good. Not good at all...

[PinkMartini]

13 :eek:

IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 2.8 PLANETS.

5.5 on Al Gore's Calculator

Your Personal Impact is: Smaller than average.

[Rosebud]

I got a 15 on the first test and an 6.85 on Al Gore's test.

I am really disappointed that those scores aren't lower, considering how many environmentally friendly choices we make (we carpool, drive small cars with good mpg, recycle, buy local and farmer's market foods, walk when we can, we changed our lightbulbs, keep water and electricity bills low, have a smaller home, don't eat beef at all...)

I think it must be that we do like to travel and we take an international trip every year (10+ hour flight) that's bumping our score a bit. Of course, there's always more you can do, but we're really, really trying to reduce our carbon emissions.

[PG-rated]

16, but on the Al Gore one I got 8.15, which I don't get, since I really should be below average for the U.S. Maybe I fly too much? I fly about once a month these days. Also, I don't really know how much electricity we use, since it's included in our rent.

[LittleFredPunkinHead]

I'm sure that the flying is a big part of it... I saw this website in an article in Marie Claire, and they said that flying is a killer on the "environmentally friendly" scale.

[LyLMyssChaos]

On the Earth Day quiz I scored an 18:

IN COMPARISON, THE AVERAGE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT IN YOUR COUNTRY IS 24 ACRES PER PERSON.

IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 4.2 PLANETS.

On Al Gore's quiz I scored a 10.5.

I think that what did us in on that one since we don't have high utility bills and do not ever fly was the high gas mileage. We had a score of 0 on the walking quiz.

[MLA]

Al Gore's quiz I got 9.3. I think it's because of the air travel. I generally take 2 cross country trips (round trip) each year.

[AusAshMommy]

My score = 7 If everyone lived like I did they'd need 1.7 planets...YIKES...

But with 2 small children and a hubby who doesn't drive its near impossible to get anywhere here without driving...ugh

[Nikker]

IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 4.7 PLANETS.

:eek:

[Sha259]

I guess I'm sucking the earth dry, I scored a whopping 29 on the Earth Day quiz. Mostly because I have to drive 15 miles to work (no public transit), my car doesnt get great mileage, and DH and I live in a home over 2000 sqft with no children.

[Lindsan]

The earth day quiz seems to not work properly. I did the test a few times and got different numbers each time. The lowest was the first time: 9. But that also seems high to me seeing as I consider myself to be quite eco-friendly. The average in my country is 6 and I think I am truly around there.

On the Al Gore site I scored a 3.2. The thing that I thought was wrong on this test is that it asks for $ when it comes to energy consumption. I would have rather seen kWh and so on as prices can vary.

[jnettie]

Mine is 13.

I wonder, because some of the things that would really reduce your carbon footprint really aren't fesable, at least not in America. I'm thinking about those questions about running water and electricity in your house.

I also wonder if carbon footprints could be reduced by eating local meat, and I wonder if chicken is less than beef? Also, my parents have running water, but they live in the country so they have a well. I wonder if well water, which doesn't have to go through a treatment plant, is better ecologically than city water?

[bamboo]

I think your carbon footprint would definitely be reduced by eating local meat, and by eating much less meat. I found that first question to be worded oddly- I eat (local organic) dairy OR meat every day, but not necessarily meat every day. There didn't really seem to be an option for that.

We don't own a car and walk or bus everywhere, so I was surprised that I got a 19 on the Earth Day quiz. I think it was flying (probably 4 flights/year, short ones but still) and the meat/dairy question that got me. But we only eat meat and dairy from small local farms and that question didn't take that into account.

[wendalah]

I got a ... 23!!!! I know what killed my score: My daily commute and my frequent flying. Guess my vegetarian lifestyle isn't all that helpful ;).

[amew]

I got a 19 on the Earth Day quiz and a 9 on the Al Gore quiz. The flying killed me--I take probably 12 round-trips a year, if not more. I feel terrible that my carbon footprint is so high, but most the vast majority of my flying is stuff I couldn't cut out without either quitting my job or giving up holidays with family, neither of which I am really willing to do.

[thyme]

I'm a 29. Shrug. I live in the middle of nowhere, very little is produced locally, and my family is a four hour plane ride away. Oh, and we like meat, square footage, and luxury cars.

[wendalah]

The thing that is hardest for me is cutting down on driving. Los Angeles is a horrible city for public transit options, a good majority of the population lives REALLY far away from their workplaces, and carpooling can be difficult given the city is so spread out. I drive a pretty fuel-efficient economy car...but still.

The majority of my flights are work-related. My family lives here, which is great. But...gotta drive at least 20 miles to see any of them!

[yby1]

Earth Day = 8
Al Gore site = 3.8

[yby1]

The thing that is hardest for me is cutting down on driving. Los Angeles is a horrible city for public transit options, a good majority of the population lives REALLY far away from their workplaces, and carpooling can be difficult given the city is so spread out. I drive a pretty fuel-efficient economy car...but still.


That's what keeps me from being super low. I can't cut down the driving.
I don't have to fly for work either.

[artist]

First quiz: 23

Yikes! That's awfully high. I think part of it is the size of my house and that it's not filled with a bunch of kids. However, if I had kids, I'd be contributing to overpopluation and would have given birth to more people to pollute the planet. I'm a vegetarian, but I don't eat a lot of organic food (mostly due to cost). I suppose I could walk more. The public transit here isn't all that great. It's okay, but it could be better.

Gore quiz: 5.75
I put that I take one short flight a year. In reality it might be less than that since some years I take no flights. What's scary is that the average number on the Gore quiz is 7.5!

[dragonfly28602]

*Hanging my head in shame*
37 on the first one
I need 8.2 planets
20.5 on the second one
Off to go do some research. That seems awfully high, but I do drive a Denali and about 75 miles a day.

[Julss05]

17
3.8 planets

[Standrea]

Original quiz-I haven't done the other one yet.
FOOD 3.5
MOBILITY 0.7
SHELTER 5.9
GOODS/SERVICES 5.9
TOTAL FOOTPRINT 16

[Nigellas]

Food 2.5
Mobility 0.2
Shelter 3.2
Goods/services 2.5
total Footprint 8

[kindermom]

I got a 24 on the first one. We live in a smallish house but like meat and I drive 110 miles 3 x week for work.

With the Gore's I do not like that it does not factor in the local cost of energy. I was doing well until the utility portion. Then I jumped to 11.95. My neighbor uses all CFL bulbs and is super energy efficient and his bills are still $180.

[Sarah]

10 on the first one.
2.35 on the second. :)

And I'm not really trying to conserve.

[jesseybell]

*Hanging my head in shame*
37 on the first one
I need 8.2 planets
20.5 on the second one
Off to go do some research. That seems awfully high, but I do drive a Denali and about 75 miles a day.

I got the same too :(
I do drive a gas guzzling SUV 70 miles a day by myself - I can't get there by public transportation
We eat a fair amount of meat and just don't have the time or money to go anywhere except the closest supermarket chain to buy too much processed food.
Our house is on the lowest end by size

I need to go take the Al Gore one.
Yep, 20.5 on the second one.
We do take 2 round trip flights a year, and our electricity bill is quite large (I blame it on the a/c and the tv) which is something we really want to work on.

[Scooter]

9 for this one.
5.6 for the Gore one.

I thought 9 was a pretty good score until I saw this:
"IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 1.9 PLANETS. "

I think the 9 was mainly that high because there are 3 of us in a 3 BD house. Of course, we had planned to have had two kids by now, so that would be a 7. Not too much better. :(

[Lindsan]

I was thinking about the quizes yesterday and came to the conclusion that they are really lacking in detail for them to be accurate. It's the energy consumption questions that bother me the most, as well as the food questions.

Yes, I do have electricity in my house, but it's a highly energy efficient house and we are very conservative with heating in the winter (I literally wore my fleece robe over my clothes all winter) and don't have any A/C in the summer, bringing our total energy consumption in a year to less than 9.000 kWh. Now that must be less of a foot print than someone who has an old house with a less efficient heating system and who isn't conservative with heating and A/C.

Same thing with water. If I do full loads of laundry once a week instead of one or two loads with only a few items in them every day, and I turn the water off between latherings in the shower in addition to using those water saver things you put on the shower head, and I use collected rain water to water plants then again it must be better than someone doing the exact opposite.

Also, if we buy meat/dairy (or any food for that matter) that has been produced locally and organically that must be much better than someone who buys imported frozen meat from across the world.

It also says nothing on recycling.

[bookworm]

My score was wretched--I can't remember how bad, but we'd need something like 9 planets. Mine is primarily due to air travel, though (flew home last night, flying out again this afternoon, and that's not all that unusual). It was painful to see since I'm pretty adament about walking/taking public transportation when I'm home. I'll be cutting back on the work travel soon, but I'll have to start driving again (new job in the 'burbs). But since I was happy to share the walkability of my neighborhood in the other thread, I thought I should own up to being an environmental nightmare when not at home.

[chefker]

Interesting. I got a 19/4.3 planets on the first quiz, 17.2 on the second one.

I agree with other posters, there are many variables that are just not part of the quizzes. For example, we have well water - I'm guessing that reduces our footprint just a tiny bit, as we don't rely on public water, which requires energy/electricity to process. We also have a water-conserving dishwasher and clothes washer.

And, no mention on composting/recycling, or how much water you use for lawn/garden. I only water my veggies by hand with a watering can, and the grass is just...brown. :) I don't bother watering that, because I see it as wasteful.

[mgrace]

Interesting links.

I got a 12 on the first one and a 5.7 on the second. I did have a .35 on Al Gore's till I entered the amount of miles I drive in a year.

Obviously, both of these sites are lacking many questions, but I think at the very least that make you think a bit.

[mgrace]

Wasn't there a thread titled something like, What Do you Do to Save the Earth? :shrug: Maybe I'm imagining it, but it seemed like a spinoff of this thread.

[SiValleySteph]

I didn't take the quiz. I took the Al Gore one last year after watching the movie.

I have a much lower footprint than the average American ... until you add in travel. We take at least one long haul trip a year. The travelling basically doubles our footprint.

I did offset our last long trip. I know offsets are controversial at best, but I thought it was better than nothing. Right now there are ways to produce electricity w/o producing carbon, but there doesn't seem to be a good alternative for plane travel. At least, not that I've heard of. I'm not ready to give up plane travel right now, so the offsets are the best I can do. (We have cut back on our plane travel, though.)

[udsweetpea]

17 on Earth Day, 6.8 on Al Gore's

[jenjunum]

Re: plane travel. I think Boeing just released a more energy efficient plane. I think Branson bought a bunch of them? I think I heard it was the equivalent of each person in the plan driving a car that got 100 mph. Of course they never said what a typical plane got. I think I heard it on NPR.



CATEGORY ACRES
FOOD 5.4
MOBILITY 1.7
SHELTER 1.2
GOODS/SERVICES 2.7
TOTAL FOOTPRINT 11

Mostly because I live in a really small apartment.

[Sarah]

Can someone explain to me, in plain english, why eating meat is bad for the environment? I think I understand, but I want to make sure I get it.

[Jessie]

10 on the first one
2.7 on the second one

[jnettie]

Can someone explain to me, in plain english, why eating meat is bad for the environment? I think I understand, but I want to make sure I get it.

It has a lot to do with how meat is processed and the amount of traveling it does. So, for example (and with made up locations), the cows live in Texas on ranches. They are herded onto trains for Chicago, where they are processed in factories, then the meat is shipped out all over the country. It's the traveling and the factory that caused most of the pollution. While cows do produce a lot of methane, that alone doesn't make them bad environmentally. So, if you buy locally raised meat, it is better environmentally than the stuff you buy at the Piggly Wiggly.

[SiValleySteph]

It's the traveling and the factory that caused most of the pollution.

I'm not sure that's necessarily true. I think it's more like the energy that goes into feed production.

Let me see if I can find a good article on it ...

ETA:

From About.com (http://vegetarian.about.com/od/vegetarianvegan101/f/fossilfuels.htm):

More that 1/3 of all fossil fuels produced in the United States go towards animal agriculture. According to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (1), the production of one calorie of animal protein requires more than ten times the fossil fuel input as a calorie of plant protein. This means that ten times the amount of carbon dioxide is emitted as well.

Okay, that's not the best article. :) But anyways, the amount of grain used for cattle feed is enough to feed 800 million people. (Source: Cornell Univeristy (http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Aug97/livestock.hrs.html)

If you go with grass-fed, with local as a bonus, it's much more energy efficient.

[jnettie]

I'm not sure that's necessarily true. I think it's more like the energy that goes into feed production.

Let me see if I can find a good article on it ...

oh, that would make sense as well. I've heard that it was the travel, but I do know that most of Illinois's corn is grown to feed cattle. And that's lots of corn.

[December27JJB]

Cows (as well as Buffalo, goats, etc) burp and fart methane (gas) and it gets to the greenhouse layer, trapping heat.

Here is a quote from an article on Livestock:

"Livestock are responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse-gas emissions as measured in carbon dioxide equivalent, reports the FAO. This includes 9 percent of all CO2 emissions, 37 percent of methane, and 65 percent of nitrous oxide. Altogether, that's more than the emissions caused by transportation." Source and more info: http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/004088.html

Also, we are destroying the rain forest so we can eat meat. For every pound of beef you eat, 55 acres of the rainforest is destroyed. (Source: http://www.rajuabju.com/literature/anti-mcdonalds.htm )