The Cost of our Choices: Calculating Your Carbon Footprint
By Bruce Mast
I checked my carbon footprint last night. Why, you might ask? Well, it was either that or step on the bathroom scale. Both have about the same effect—vaguely unpleasant but much-needed reminders about how my choices impact either my health or the planet’s health. The science around my personal choices still seems murky—count calories or just carbs? More exercise? More protein? Good cholesterol? My head spins. But despite what a few naysayers would have us think, the basic science underpinning climate change is straightforward. When we burn fossil fuels for energy, we add more and more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This buildup acts like a blanket that traps heat around the world, which disrupts the climate. Heat buildup drives ever more frequent and extreme weather events. The hots get hotter, the colds get colder, the wets get wetter, the drys get drier, and storms pack a more powerful punch.
Of course, climate change affects humans in numerous (mostly negative) ways, but birding has further attuned me to how it stresses my feathered friends. If it wasn’t already hard enough being a bird in the face of habitat loss, outdoor cats, light pollution, and on and on, now birds must cope with the increasing prevalence of extreme heat waves, drought, wildfires, and shifting seasons that disrupt essential food sources. I derive great joy from birds and nature, and I want my nieces, nephews, and their children to enjoy the same experiences. So it’s painful to watch bird numbers decline year after year, knowing that my carbon emissions contribute to the problem.
Compared to my personal health, my choices influencing my carbon footprint are more complicated because I reject the notion that I should make heroic sacrifices to save the planet. The problem is simply too big for a handful of altruists to solve on their own. The solution requires all of us and . Only when planet-saving choices align well with individual self-interests can we expect people to adopt those choices on a mass scale.
On the other hand, I can’t just point my finger at “those other people” who need to change their ways—Big oil! China! Big Coal!—again, the solution requires all of us. I can get on my soapbox about how “the government” should take action to bring climate-friendly choices within reach, but when our elected leaders take action to do so, then it’s up to us (and me!)…