PrintJune 23, 2008
Your 2007 Carbon Footprint
We often hear of how we must reduce our carbon footprint. We are told as Americans, that CO2 is a pollutant and that we release upwards of 20 tons of carbon dioxide per person per year into the atmosphere. This sounds incredible and evokes images of black soot and dirt clogging the air.
Most of us have seen the advertisement for the environmental movie with a big muddy boot print, representing our carbon footprint, stomped into the planet. But CO2 is not black or dirty or muddy, it is not even visible, nor can one smell it nor taste it. Because we exhale CO2, a crowded university lecture hall may have 10 times more CO2 than average atmospheric concentrations.
While CO2 is not poisonous to animals, it is a necessary airborne fertilizer for plant life. Reducing CO2 to slightly less than half of current concentrations would kill off all green plant life. As concentrations increase, so do plant growth rates and harvests, and many greenhouses and conservatories add CO2 to the air to quickly grow healthy and productive plants. Yet, we are told this trace gas is pollution. We are told that CO2 causes global warming that far exceeds natural variation. We are told, as a result, that we must be concerned about, be aware of and reduce our carbon footprint. There is much scientific data showing CO2 has very little to do with any planetary warming let alone the catastrophic kind.
In fact, despite recent increases in CO2, both NASA and the UN's IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) have recently conceded that the earth has entered a natural cooling phase that will last decades. However if you are concerned about the size of your footprint read on:
How big is your is your footprint in relation to the atmosphere? Grab a ruler, and let's go for a walk. Make each step about one meter long, so walk as though you are a football referee. As we are walking we will both count each step and do some math. How much CO2 is in the atmosphere? Current estimates put it at 350 -380 parts per million. For ease of computation, we will round it up to the nearest 100, or 400 parts per million. Now let's use that old fashioned math and reduce that down. 400 parts per million is the same as 40 parts per 100,000 and can be reduced further to 4 parts per 10,000. When we have finished taking 10,000 steps, stop and turn around. You have just walked 10,000 meters or 10K, which runners know is roughly 6 miles. At average walking speed this takes about 2 hours. (If you do not want to take the walk, get in your car, and drive 6 miles, just to see how far it is.) Once there, look back at where you started. Remember that all the CO2 in the atmosphere is 4 parts per 10,000. Take 4 steps back towards your starting point. Those four steps out of 6 miles represent the entire amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.
Global warmists determine that the carbon dioxide caused from man as the amount we have today over what existed before the Industrial Revolution. That is debatable, with some scientists estimating that man is only responsible for 15% of that amount, but for our demonstration purposes we will concede to the alarmists that all the additional CO2 came from Man.
One step out of the 6 miles represents man's carbon footprint from the 1880s until today. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) the entire CO2 increase for the earth in 2007, was 2.4 parts per million.
Once again we will assume it is all man made and, furthermore, we will round up to 2.5. The 2007 world wide carbon footprint of 2.5 parts per million translates in our walk to two and one half centimeters, or about 1 inch out of 6 miles. Some environmentalists suggest that the three hundred million people in the United States are responsible for as much as one fifth of all CO2 released in a year.
Because it is easier to find ¼ inch on our ruler, let us say that the U.S. population is responsible for one quarter of all CO2 released in the world last year. Look at the ¼ of an inch on your ruler that represents the carbon footprint of the entire U.S.. Now look back over the six miles you walked that represents the entire atmosphere.
In fact, despite recent increases in CO2, both NASA and the UN's IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) have recently conceded that the earth has entered a natural cooling phase that will last decades. However if you are concerned about the size of your footprint read on:
How big is your is your footprint in relation to the atmosphere? Grab a ruler, and let's go for a walk. Make each step about one meter long, so walk as though you are a football referee. As we are walking we will both count each step and do some math. How much CO2 is in the atmosphere? Current estimates put it at 350 -380 parts per million. For ease of computation, we will round it up to the nearest 100, or 400 parts per million. Now let's use that old fashioned math and reduce that down. 400 parts per million is the same as 40 parts per 100,000 and can be reduced further to 4 parts per 10,000. When we have finished taking 10,000 steps, stop and turn around. You have just walked 10,000 meters or 10K, which runners know is roughly 6 miles. At average walking speed this takes about 2 hours. (If you do not want to take the walk, get in your car, and drive 6 miles, just to see how far it is.) Once there, look back at where you started. Remember that all the CO2 in the atmosphere is 4 parts per 10,000. Take 4 steps back towards your starting point. Those four steps out of 6 miles represent the entire amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.
Global warmists determine that the carbon dioxide caused from man as the amount we have today over what existed before the Industrial Revolution. That is debatable, with some scientists estimating that man is only responsible for 15% of that amount, but for our demonstration purposes we will concede to the alarmists that all the additional CO2 came from Man.
One step out of the 6 miles represents man's carbon footprint from the 1880s until today. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) the entire CO2 increase for the earth in 2007, was 2.4 parts per million.
Once again we will assume it is all man made and, furthermore, we will round up to 2.5. The 2007 world wide carbon footprint of 2.5 parts per million translates in our walk to two and one half centimeters, or about 1 inch out of 6 miles. Some environmentalists suggest that the three hundred million people in the United States are responsible for as much as one fifth of all CO2 released in a year.
Because it is easier to find ¼ inch on our ruler, let us say that the U.S. population is responsible for one quarter of all CO2 released in the world last year. Look at the ¼ of an inch on your ruler that represents the carbon footprint of the entire U.S.. Now look back over the six miles you walked that represents the entire atmosphere.
Next, all you need to do to find your carbon footprint is divide that ¼ inch by 300,000,000.
