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You bring up "public transport" as one of the emissions sources beyond people's control, without bringing up the biggest source which is under our control: cars
by comicjk 8y ago
You bring up "public transport" as one of the emissions sources beyond people's control, without bringing up the biggest source which is under our control: cars. US per capita CO2 emissions are 20 tons/year, of which a typical passenger car is 5 tons/year. If you're worried about the carbon footprint of your stuff...it is possible to buy less stuff.
- GLjEI4YbnGD27LB 8y agoSo I can find that the US has about 16 tons/year of CO2 emissions per capita. Do you have a source for how much the passenger cars contribute?
- comicjk 8y agohttps://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/greenhouse-gas-emissions-typical-passenger-vehicle https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/greenhouse-gas-emissions-t...
- simonh 8y agoThere was a journalist in the UK that lives for 3 months, with his family, doing everything they could manage to reduce their carbon footprint, and they got it down by about 5%. There are roughly 2 passenger cars per person in the US, so cars are about 12% of emission, but even if you had no car you’d still need to travel somehow. You’d never get your travel footprint to zero. I am not saying don’t try or don’t bother, I’m just saying firstly we are not going to solve this with public policy action. And second, sometimes there are other valid environmental issues we can focus on in our personal behaviour.
- FartyMcFarter 8y agoDid that journalist ever do plane trips? I recall reading that for many people that is the single biggest thing that accounts for their emissions.