“OK, I get it, I have a big carbon footprint. What can I do about it?”
That’s the question many of us have when we realize we’re living in a way that will harm – or perhaps even end – future generations, including our children and grandchildren.
We’re not ready for yurt living
Most of us aren’t ready to sell our homes and cars. Nor are we prepared to live off the grid in a yurt with our exciting new composting toilet and solar oven. Personally, I’m terrified just at the thought of exchanging my rib eye habit for the coming of Whirled Peas, thanks to Impossible Burgers.
So, what can we do in the here and now about climate change?
Answer: a whole lot.
The first thing to know is that actions to reduce our carbon footprints come in three broad categories. The first requires the least effort or money. The last requires significant effort, money or both.
- Offsets. These are purchases that work to absorb some, or all, of the carbon our consumption habits put into the atmosphere.
- Reductions. These are actions we can take by changing our personal habits or by choosing more carbon-efficient purchases. This can be a less-meat diet, disciplined recycling, less driving or more natural fiber clothing choices.
- Eliminations. These are big steps, like buying electric cars or installing solar or wind power for our homes.
Offset your carbon footprint for less than $1 a day
According to the website www.carbonfund.org, the average person in the U.S. can offset the annual 52,920 pounds of CO2 their life creates by giving only $240 to organizations that plant carbon absorbing trees. That’s less than $1 a day. If you’re affluent and live in suburbia, it will take more. If you’re poor and live in the city, it will take less.
Similarly, the annual cost for a couple is about $480, and the cost for a family of four is about $960.
Calculate your carbon footprint
Another website, www.carbonfootprint.com, offers a more meticulous online calculator. It allows us to figure out how much CO2 each part of how we live builds the carbon burden we add to the planet.
In the Burns family, for instance, I found that driving my Lexus RX350 SUV 144,000 miles over the last 10 years added 71.39 metric tons of CO2 to the atmosphere. Had we owned our 2013 Honda FIT over the same period and had we driven it the same 144,000 miles, it would have added half as much, 35.36 metric tons. That’s a total of 106.75 metric tons.
How much it cost the Burns family to offset a decade of driving
To offset that much CO2, the website suggests six different carbon offsetting projects that range in cost from $862.52 for a global portfolio of projects to $1,006.27 for an “Americas Portfolio” of projects. Remember, that’s for driving two cars an above average number of miles for 10 years. On a per mile basis, it’s dirt-cheap.
Back at www.carbonfund.org, rougher calculations suggest you can offset the annual CO2 emissions of a 19-28 mpg vehicle with a contribution of $54.42, or $36.28 for a smaller vehicle that gets 29-40 mpg.
It’s a whole lot less expensive to purchase offsets than it is to buy a more fuel-efficient vehicle or an electric vehicle. Instead of spending at least $40,000 to buy a new Tesla model 3, for instance, I could buy over 500 years of offsets for the RX350 while supporting community projects around the world that reduce deforestation and contribute to improving health, according to www.carbonfootprint.com.
So what did I do? I made a contribution to cover the last decade. In the future, I’ll cover each year and offset earlier decades.
Opportunity at your electric utility
Most of us also have another big opportunity with our electric power company. While Texas developers have often been accused of being cheap because they chose to build all-electric houses, it turns out to have been a good decision for the environment. Today, most Texas utility company customers can choose to have up to 100 percent of their electric power come from renewable energy sources.
It’s not free, but like buying offsets, it’s very inexpensive. Pedernales Electric Cooperative provides the electricity for the Burns family. A single call switched us to 100 percent renewable power sources.
The cost? At 43 cents for every 1,000-kilowatt hours, the monthly cost will be well under any visit to a Starbuck’s. Indeed, it will likely be less than a selection from the dollar menu at McDonald’s.*
Different electric providers have different plans. Reliant, the largest electric power provider in Texas, offers two levels of participation that are unrelated to your direct electricity usage. For a flat $5.95 a month, it will donate $2 to EarthShare of Texas as well as purchase 1,000 pounds of carbon offsets. An average electricity user in Texas produces about 1,000 pounds of CO2 a month.
Gexa Energy, the second largest provider in Texas, allows you to choose 100 percent renewable energy at no cost.
Will two changes like this do a lot of good?
Absolutely. Shelter and transportation energy are the two largest direct sources of carbon from you and me as consumers, accounting for most of our carbon footprint.
Can we do more?
You bet. Offsets are just a good, quick start. We need to remember that not producing carbon in the first place is a better long-run solution to our carbon footprints and climate change. That, however, puts us in conflict with our established habits as well as business interests and political power groups.
But who cares? It’s really all about decisions, big and small, that we make about how we live our lives. We don’t have to make all of them to produce a big change. We just need to work on a few at a time, adding one by one by one…
*Update: An earlier edition stated, per the Pedernales Electric Cooperative website, that their renewables option included biomass. I was informed that their Renewable Energy Certificates include wind, solar and hydro only.
Related columns:
Scott Burns, “Charitable Giving in a Global Warming World,” 12/07/2019 https://scottburns.com/charitable-giving-in-a-global-warming-world/
Scott Burns, “Fear and Loathing on the Carbon Footprint Trail, 1/04/2020 https://scottburns.com/fear-and-loathing-on-the-carbon-footprint-trail/
Sources and References:
Reliant Ecoshare carbon offsets: https://www.reliant.com/en/residential/electricity/renewable-energy/carbon-offsets.jsp
Earthshare of Texas: https://www.earthshare.org/earthshare-texas/
Gexa Energy renewables: https://www.gexaenergy.com/for-home/electricity-plans/renewable-energy
This information is distributed for education purposes, and it is not to be construed as an offer, solicitation, recommendation, or endorsement of any particular security, product, or service.
Photo: Brett Sayles on Pexel.com
(c) Scott Burns, 2020
2 thoughts on “Two painless ways to start reducing your carbon footprint”
Comments are closed.
Scott,
I like your article that you published today, January 7, 2020. If everyone would follow it, the world would be a better place. Unfortunately, a lot of people won’t but we can only control our own actions. At least that’s a start.
It’s a very important start. It’s how things happen. Politicians like to promote the idea that they are leaders. They aren’t. They pick up on things that individuals are doing or want. Without a movement, there is no politics.