Americans try to shift into 'carbon neutral'

Gregory Lamb in his article talks about being carbon neutral, carbon-positive and negative, carbon footprint.

"...Some environmentalists worry that the idea of going "carbon neutral" could be detrimental if it leads to people only buying offsets and not changing their lifestyles..."

"...Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai, who won a 2004 Nobel Peace Prize, recently urged what might be the grandest plan yet to offset carbon emissions at last month's international meeting on climate change in Nairobi, Kenya. Ms. Maathai proposed that the world's citizens commit to planting 1 billion trees, which would absorb about 250 million tons of the carbon dioxide now warming the atmosphere..."

Activities that affect the carbon footprint of individuals

The following activities affect the carbon footprint of individuals, according to the various calculators available:

• car travel: depends on distance driven, fuel efficiency, and number of passengers per vehicle.
• Air travel: depends on distance and number of flights. Take-off and landing use large amounts of fuel, so two short flights produce more carbon than one long flight of comparative distance. However, long distance flights need to carry larger amounts of fuel which lowers their fuel efficiency. Therefore only some calculators distinguish between short and long distance flights, while others just count total miles or hours of flight. Emissions per mile and passenger are roughly equivalent to a mile and passenger in car travel.
• Boat travel: depends on distance travelled, fuel efficiency, and size of the boat. Can produce up to 8 times more carbon dioxide than an airplane traveling the same distance
• Other motorised transport such as bus or train: normally counts for less per person than either car or air travel.
• Electricity use, if provided by non-renewable resources. Some calculators ask for figures from utility bills, while others estimate the amount from size of household and usage patterns (such as whether you leave equipment on standby overnight).
• Home heating: depends on fuel source and amount used.
• Food miles: how much food you buy from non-local sources.
• Diet: meat-eater, vegetarian or vegan, conventionally farmed foods or organic produce.
• Embodied carbon in the products and services consumed: depends on such factors as the energy intensity of the industrial process and transportation costs
• Carbon intensity in the usage of the products consumed: for example the energy efficiency rating of the freezer or computer used.