The following info is from a book called ‘How Bad are Bananas?‘; by Mike Berners-Lee. This book compares the relative amount of the carbon impact of a wide range of daily products and activities and gives an estimate of the actual carbon produced from each to help us make more informed choices. The carbon footprint figures for each product are estimates - but the book makes it very obvious and easy to see where we can make choices that would significantly add up to reduce our carbon footprint.
Here are some suggestions, in no particular order………but all quite easy to do! Especially in the context of what our carbon footprint is likely to be:
Average emissions per a person
0.1 tonne CO2e per year the average Malawian
15 tonnes CO2e per year average UK inhabitant
30 tonnes C02e per year average Australian
1.Shop boughtwater in plastic bottles: it’s not just the plastic in the bottle – but the many transport miles that have an effect! 160-215g CO2e per bottle VSdrinking tap water 14g CO2e for 1 pint
2. Cow’s milk: a large Latte: 340g CO2e VS an Americano with a shot of cow’s milk = 53 g Co2e, or better still, try soya or hemp milk!
3. Air-freighted vegetables or grown in artificially heated greenhouses e.g. 250g asparagus from Peru in January (same with – baby corn/ carrots/ mangetout /green beans/okra/etc.) = a staggering 3.5kg CO2e! VS seasonal local vegetables - 250g asparagus grown locally and in season = 125 g CO2e. It makes sense to get a veg box!
(Mike B-L points out, btw, that apples/bananas/oranges are shipped not airfreighted so have a much lower CO2e)
4. Tomatoes! 1 kg of out of season cherry tomatoes, grown in artificially heated greenhouse in UK in March are the highest carbon food in the book at = a staggering 50kg CO2e!! VS Tomatoes, 1 kg grown locally & in season (July) = 0.4kg CO2e
5. Load of laundry, washed at 60C, in a combined washer-tumble-dryer 3.3kg CO2e VS same amount of washing, washed at 30C and dried on the line 0.6kg CO2e.
part 2 to follow
